Policies
Sewage and General Estate Cleanliness
EWCT operate the private Sewage Treatment Works and hold the SEPA consent to discharge. The long term strategy would be to have this replaced by a new plant which Scottish Water would maintain.
People frequently ask why we maintain the Sewage Treatment Works and the infrastructure of the estate if we don’t own it. The answer is quite simply that we use the facilities and committed to doing so when we purchased our properties.
Your responsibility would be as in the following example of a four terraced block:
Take four houses in a terraced connected by four individual pipes which meet at a junction and then one pipe runs from the junction to the main pipe.
It follows that the owner of each property is responsible for the maintenance and repair pf the pipe leading from their property to the first junction; thereafter they are responsible along with the other three owners for maintaining the pipe leading from the first junction to the main pipe.
NB. This is only used as an example, four terraced houses may be differently configured but the responsibility principle is the same.
Any blockage up to the main sewer pipe is the direct responsibility of specific owners being jointly served, and any blockages must be cleared by the individual owners. From the connection with the main sewer pipes the liability then rests jointly with all owners. However, if it can be shown that blockage in the main pipes is originating from certain properties, clearing charges could be raised with individual proprietors. To sum up every owner has a collective share and responsibility for the whole estate including the Sewage Treatment Plant.
- Do not flush any items apart from bodily waste and toilet tissue down the toilet, Each owner/resident is responsible for any blockage before the main sewer.
- Try to keep your garden, and common areas surrounding your property neat and tidy.
- Do not abandon Vehicles on the estate or leave them untaxed or uninsured on the common roads and spaces. Abandoned vehicles are dangerous, unsightly and detract from the ambiance of the estate. This antisocial behavior has a negative impact on residents quality of life and property prices!
- Do not litter, litter bins are provided all around the estate.
- Be a responsible dog owner, do not allow your dog to foul the estate, any waste must be lifted and disposed of either at home or in the bins provided. Contact details for the Dog Warden are provided on the Welcome Pack (online version) page.
Many people will have noticed the light at the wet well when it is flashing. This happens when there is a blockage which prevents sewage flowing to the STW at the normal rate (what do you put down your loo?).
There is a safety margin before the wet well chokes totally and we get flooding in the street, so when the light flashes, we monitor the fluid levels several times a day, and take appropriate action.
Baskets have been made to act as filters, which will be routinely emptied to try and reduce the problem, but the real answer is that everyone refrains from flushing anything, other than bodily waste and toilet paper!