Shrewsbury · SY1, SY2, SY3, SY4, SY5

Emergency Drainage in Shrewsbury

What to do first when a tank overflows, sewage backs up or a drain floods, and how to reach a local specialist once the immediate risk is contained. Serving Shrewsbury and the surrounding villages, including Baschurch, Bomere Heath, Bayston Hill, Condover.

Call 01743 562954 Describe your problem

Photo: Richard Symonds · CC BY-SA 3.0

Some drainage problems can wait for a convenient appointment. Sewage backing up into a bathroom cannot. Neither can an overflowing septic tank or cesspit, a collapsed drain flooding a yard, or a treatment plant in alarm at a holiday let.

When a system fails around Shrewsbury, the closeness of running water sets the priority: the Severn, Rea Brook and Cound Brook thread between the villages, and an overflowing tank at Atcham or Montford Bridge can reach a watercourse fast. Stop putting water into the system, keep everyone away from what has escaped, and if effluent is reaching the river or a brook, report it to the Environment Agency hotline before arranging the fix.

The villages and scattered farms around Shrewsbury are classic off-mains territory. Older properties typically run on septic tanks of varying vintages, newer rural builds and barn conversions on package treatment plants, and it is common for a property changing hands here to be the first time anyone has looked hard at the system in years.

How emergency drainage works, in full →

Access and practicalities around Shrewsbury

Access is generally good close to town, but many of the outlying farms and cottages are reached by single-track lanes with limited turning room. Tanker visits have to be planned around what the lane and the yard can actually take, and long hose runs cover tanks the vehicle cannot get close to.

Local watercourses around Shrewsbury

The Severn dominates the local drainage, fed by a network of brooks such as the Rea Brook and Cound Brook. Plenty of rural properties here have a ditch or watercourse within metres of the tank, which is exactly the situation the General Binding Rules were written for: septic tank discharge to those watercourses is no longer permitted.

What to do right now

Stop using water in the property. No toilets, showers, dishwasher or washing machine, because every litre that goes in has to come out somewhere
Keep people and animals well away from standing sewage, and wash hands and any skin that has touched it thoroughly
Never enter a septic tank, cesspit or treatment plant, and never lean in. These are confined spaces holding hydrogen sulphide and methane, and the air in them can kill in seconds
Keep tank covers closed and secure, and keep children and pets away from any cover that has been lifted or damaged
If sewage is reaching a ditch, stream, brook or river, report it to the Environment Agency incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60, which is staffed around the clock
If effluent has entered the house, shut off the affected rooms and keep it away from anywhere food is prepared or stored
Photograph the affected area before any clean-up, for your insurer and for whoever attends
Note when it started and what changed just before, because that is the first thing any contractor will ask

Around Shrewsbury

As well as Shrewsbury itself, the surrounding villages and farms are covered, including Baschurch, Bomere Heath, Bayston Hill, Condover, Atcham, Montford Bridge, Pontesbury, Hanwood, Uffington, Bicton. If you are somewhere smaller or somewhere between, get in touch anyway.