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Sewage flooding in your home or garden

If you’ve been flooded by sewage inside or outside your home, we know how upsetting this can be. We’re here to help and will do everything we can to put things right.

Who is responsible?

Homeowners are usually responsible for drains and private sewers that carry waste from their home, up to where they connect to the public sewer.

However, if our investigations show the flooding has been caused by a problem on a United Utilities owned sewer, we will do the following:

Flooding inside your home

  • Remove the flood water
  • Clear away solid waste
  • Clean and disinfect affected areas (excluding carpets, furniture, and curtains)

Flooding outside your home

  • Remove the flood water
  • Clear away solid waste
  • Clean and disinfect patios or hard surfaces
  • Help clean any affected public roads

Please note: garden areas will need time to dry naturally before they can be cleaned.

Tips to keep you safe if you're impacted:

Know who to call

Give your insurance company or landlord a call straight away. As mentioned above, ensure your report it to us too.

Wash your hands thoroughly

It's important to wash your hands after being in contact with flood water especially before you eat. Be sure to keep any open wounds covered and clean.

Wash clothing and fabrics

Wash anything that’s been in contact with sewage including soft furnishing, at or over 60 degrees to destroy harmful bugs. If unable to, have professionally cleaned or disposed of.

Dry affected areas thoroughly

Inside your property, use heating and good ventilation, as this will help with the drying process.

Put food in the bin

Throw away all food and definitely don't eat food that may have come into contact with floodwater – including tinned food.

What to do with garden veg

Don’t eat veg that has been covered by sewage. Leave undamaged fruit or veg in the ground for at least 2-3 weeks and only use after thorough washing and cooking.

Keep children and pets away

Don’t let them go near the contaminated area, or any grassed or paved areas until they are back to normal. Sunlight and soil help destroy harmful bacteria.

Restoring your garden

Don’t try to clean waterlogged garden areas or dig over contaminated soil; leave the sewage residue to decay naturally.

Keeping safe

  • If your gas meter or appliances have been under water, contact the British Gas emergency line before using them.
  • If your electricity meter, fuse box, or sockets have been affected, speak to your electricity supplier before turning anything on.

What you can expect from us

We will always investigate the cause of flooding linked to our sewers or drains. If the flooding is our responsibility we aim to:

For internal flooding

  • Inspect the problem within 2 hours of you reporting it
  • We will refund your yearly sewerage charge (minimum £300, up to £2,000 per incident)
  • If it happens again within 12 months, £100 will be added to the minimum payment and £500 will be added to the maximum payment
  • We’ll also pay you up to £100 to recognise the disruption caused. We will determine the amount payable on a case-by-case basis
  • If your home or belongings are damaged, we’ll consider helping with uninsured losses

For more information, please see our standards of service (PDF 2,693 KB opens in a new window).

As a guide to the number of days you should leave your garden before cleaning up, please see the table below.

Season Turf/clay (days) Soil/sand (days)
Spring 13 20
Summer 6 9
Autumn 13 20
Winter 18 11