Surface water sewer misconnections in England and Wales: Pollution sources and impacts.
In urban areas served by separate sewerage consisting of separate pipe systems it is not uncommon for misconnections to be made either accidentally or deliberately, whereby the wrong effluent is connected to the wrong sewer. The main focus of this problem has been on in-household appliances that are wrongly connected to separate surface water sewers, potentially leading to pollution of receiving waters and non-compliance with statutory water quality standards. This paper examines the available evidence to evaluate the potential scale, severity and cost of the problem in England and Wales in comparison to that reported from investigations in the United States. The particular difficulties associated with distinguishing specific sewage sources in the wastewater "cocktail" discharged at polluted surface water outfalls are reviewed. The deficiencies of existing legislation and enforcing compliance with respect to misconnections are also discussed and the pollution potential resulting from domestic misconnections is explored based on sampled data.
Urban Pollution Research Centre, Middlesex University, The Burroughs, Hendon, London NW4 4BT, UK. Electronic address: B.Ellis@mdx.ac.uk.
J B
JB
Ellis
Centre for Water Systems, College of Engineering, Mathematics & Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK. Electronic address: d.butler@exeter.ac.uk.
D
D
Butler
D004739:England; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis*; D014852:Wales; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014872:Water Movements; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater
Compliance; Illicit discharges; Misconnections; Pollution potential; Surface water sewers