Kilnwood Vale Pumping Station Failures

Preim, on behalf of Crest Nicholson, wrote to all properties at the Kilnwood Vale Development in August 2018, this letter requested that residents did not dispose of inappropriate items such as wet wipes down their loos and into the foul sewers.

In August 2018 Crest Nicholson suffered repeated failures of their adoptable sewage pumping station that serves the Kilnwood Vale development. These failures led to foul sewers backing up, which in turn has caused foul odours that causes issues for residents. This issue is occurring again and has caused some foul sewers to back up and overflow.

Following the investigations undertaken in August 2018 and the most recent investigations in February 2019 it is apparent that the primary cause for the pumping station to failure is due to inappropriate items being flushed or poured into the foul sewer by residents. Both investigations have found that wet wipes are the predominant cause of the blockages, which is causing the pumps to fail.

Thames Water, who will eventually adopt the pumping station, do state on their website that even wipes that are deemed “suitable for flushing” still cause damage to the foul sewer networks and should therefore not be flushed. The link below will take you to the Thames Water website;

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help-and-advice/drains-and-sewers/blockages/what-causes-blockages

This letter is another polite reminder to all residents that they should not be disposing of wet wipes down the loo. Please see the attached information page that will inform residents what shouldn’t be flushed or poured away.

Should you have any queries then please do not hesitate to contact Preim Ltd Helpdesk, helpdesk@preim.co.uk.

What’s the Problem?

The problem is that if we put things like fats, oils, greases down sinks and sanitary waste and wipes (un-flushables) down the loo, it can cause blockages in the drainage system and disrupt the sewage treatment process of the package treatment plant.

Disinfectants such as bleach and other cleaning products, paint, thinners, salt, oil or weed killer can poison the biomass in the treatment plant and reduce the effectiveness of the treatment process.

What are fogs & unflushables?

FOGs stands for fat, oils and grease, but it includes any food waste, such as pasta, rice, vegetable peelings or beans – basically anything that goes down your plughole other than dirty water.

Un-flushables are things that shouldn’t be put down the loo; things like sanitary waste, cotton wool and baby, facial or cleaning wipes, even if the packet says they are “flushable”.

Why are they a problem?

Once they’ve been put down the sink or loo, the FOG and un-flushables stick together and clog up our drains, sewers and treatment plants. This can cause drain blockages that costs money to resolve.  In severe cases these blockages can lead to distressing sewer flooding in homes and gardens, not to mention bad smells.

They can also reduce the effectiveness of the sewage treatment processes leading to partially treated effluent being discharged into the environment.