Sewer adoption

Learn more about offering newly constructed sewers for adoption.

 

 

Codes for Adoption

All companies within the Water Industry follow standardised practices when it comes to the adoption of newly constructed sewers. The Design & Construction Guidance document sets out what you’ll need to do to offer new assets for adoption.

Read Design and Construction guidance

How to offer a new sewer for adoption

This stage confirms the allowable discharge rates to the existing network where a public sewer connection is needed.

Our team will inform you of any capacity issues and necessary diversions. You can apply using our developer enquiry form. Our Network Solutions team will handle your enquiry and can be contacted at network.solutions@severntrent.co.uk.

If your site is more complex, we’d suggest discussing your site's strategy with our Sewer Adoption Design Team before completing a S104 submission. Use our Pre-Design Strategic Discussion request form for this.

Early engagement helps design the site and the plan for maintaining the sewerage system. It's best to discuss this before the S104 application or as part of the pre-planning enquiry. This also helps confirm the future owner and maintainer of the sewerage system for your planning application.

This stage makes sure your system meets the Codes for Adoption so you can enter into a S104 Agreement. It confirms the design is technically accepted helping you estimate the costs early on.

Design your sewers according to the Design & Construction Guidance (DCG) in the Sewerage Sector Guidance (SSG).

To offer a new sewerage system for adoption, complete a S104 application.

If you're offering a pumping station for adoption, check the addendum on pumping stations.

Once you have technical approval for your S104, you'll need to enter into a S104 agreement so we can officially adopt the sewers. You can use the online Model Sewer Adoption Agreement template or ask us to create one using the documents listed in your technical compliance letter.

Usually, no changes to the Model Sewer Adoption Agreement are allowed.

We understand you might need to start construction before the S104 agreement is signed. To avoid delays, you can download and submit an Early Start Request form after receiving conditional or technical acceptance and paying the S104 fees. Send the form to sewer.adoptions@severntrent.co.uk, and we'll arrange a pre-start meeting on site.

Before starting construction on new sewers for adoption, you need to complete a pre-start meeting (if we haven’t already carried one out following an Early Start request).

Download and submit the Pre-Start Form to sewer.adoptions@severntrent.co.uk. 

Once approved, one of our Waste Construction Project Managers will contact you to arrange the meeting. We’ll also inspect the sewers during construction too. 

When the sewers are built and 51% of the properties are occupied, they can move to the maintenance phase. 

When your sewers are ready for maintenance, please fill out the Pre-Maintenance Inspection form and email it to sewer.adoptions@severntrent.co.uk.

Before we can do the maintenance inspection, you'll need to confirm that/provide us with:

One of our Waste Construction Project Managers will then arrange a maintenance inspection to confirm the works are ready for a 12-month maintenance period. After that, we'll issue the provisional certificate.

 

When there’s three months left on your maintenance period, we’ll be in touch to arrange a final inspection.

We’ll need to know that any remedial work has been completed and be made aware of any operational issues that have happened. After this, a final inspection can be arranged and completed. 

We’ll issue the vesting certificate once any outstanding remedial works or legal issues are resolved.

You can apply for this inspection using the Final Adoption Inspection Request form if you’re not quite ready when we contact you. 

This stage confirms any changes to the design after technical acceptance.

Please email sewer.adoptions@severntrent.co.uk with any design changes so we can determine if they are minor and can be noted on the As-built drawings or if a new reassessment is needed.

We now offer qualifying applicants a Bond Waiver on new Section 104 applications.

Please see below links to our scheme guidance notes and application form:

Local practices

Water companies have to share their proposals to implement local practices, i.e. where there are changes from the standard practice.

Here are our published local practices:

Things to consider before you apply

View or request a map of our sewer network to find the best location to make the new connection.

Request a map

If any existing water mains or public sewers run through your development site, you’ll need to either divert them or design your layout around them.

Learn more about moving our pipes

You’ll need to hire a contractor to carry out the work to connect your property to the sewer.

If you’re planning to make a direct connection to a public sewer, please share the following information about your contractor with us:

This helps us make sure they’re properly prepared and safe to work on the sewer network.

If any part of the sewer connection is within a public highway, your contractor will also need to hold the appropriate licence from the local council.

There are two types of wastewater:

Most properties will need to connect to the sewer network to safely remove wastewater.

For new developments, the surface water hierarchy must be followed. This means you should first look at options like soakaways or discharging to a watercourse.

If these aren’t possible, surface water can be connected to the sewer.

If you apply for a surface water connection, you’ll need to provide evidence showing why a soakaway can’t be used.

This must be one of the following:

If both foul and surface water sewers are available, you’ll need separate connections.

If there’s a combined sewer (shown in red on network maps), you’ll only need one connection.

When connecting to a combined sewer, keep foul and surface water flows separate within your boundary until they enter a combined manhole. This helps future‑proof your drainage if separate sewers are installed later.

There are two types of sewer connections:

We’ll need to know whether your connection will be direct or indirect.

Because the application fees differ for each type, it’s important to understand which one applies to your project before you submit your application.

Learn more about sewer connections

If any part of your work needs to take place on land owned by someone else, you’ll need to agree this with the landowner before work can begin, and in some cases, a legal easement may be required.

If things go wrong

If we fall short of expectations, we’ll contact you within one working day explaining what went wrong, why it happened, and how we plan to fix things.

If you’re unhappy with our plan, you can request an escalation to our compliance manager by emailing us, who’ll respond within five working days. 

Email us

Apply for sewer adoption

Once you have everything ready, you can apply for sewer adoption.

If you need help finding the right application form to use, get in touch with our team - they're here to help.