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A very important feature of road construction and maintenance is drainage.
New roads include designed drainage systems intended to remove water efficiently from the surface of the highway to provide a safe passage for all vehicles and pedestrians.
Older roads may have less sophisticated drainage, but all have features designed to take the water away from the road surface. It is necessary to clean and maintain these drainage provisions so that they can work properly.
Problems can occur even when drainage installations are clean and well maintained. When the volume of water arriving on the highway is greater than the capacity of the drainage facilities designed to take it away, roads can become flooded or waterlogged. This can be caused by exceptional rainfall, a road being located in a low-lying area, change in "run-off" from adjacent areas, or rivers overflowing etc. Material carried into the drains by floods can also lead to them becoming blocked. Drainage grills and gratings (eg. on gullies) can become blocked very quickly when materials like mud are deposited on the road or when there is a heavy fall of leaves. If a flooded road is caused by a ruptured water main, the water company will be responsible for repairing the damage.
Water is directed to drains by the road profile. Puddles (ponding) tend to occur if there is a depression in the road. Where feasible, this can be rectified by local patching of the road surface.
The following notes give guidance on who to contact for various types of flooding:
Wessex Water plc, owns and manages the network of public foul and surface water sewers. To report an overflowing public sewer, you should call Wessex Water Customer Services on 0845 73 00 600.
The majority of public sewers are located in the highway, and the Council has a copy of the Sewer maps, which may be viewed at the Council Offices by prior appointment by telephoning (01202) 451411.
If your private drains or sewers are overflowing, you will need a drainage contractor to deal with any blockage. See Yellow Pages under Drain and Pipe Cleaning. If you are uncertain if any blockage is in the public or private sewers, the water company should be able to determine this, once on site, then recharge you the cost of any work on the private sewers.
The Well Maintained Highways - Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management, July 2005, recommends that all highway gullies should be cleaned once a year and Bournemouth is working towards this target, whilst attending all instances of flooding as a priority in order to minimise inconvenience to road users.
Gullies drain rainwater from road and footpath surfaces and are usually sited in front of the kerb on one or both sides of the carriageway. A gully is a very large version of a domestic waste trap and discharges the rainwater into an underground pipe system that carries it to an open watercourse. In several Bournemouth roads, such as the A338 Wessex Way and the A3060 Castle Lane East, the gullies are sited behind slotted kerbs.
The positions of all the Borough’s gullies have been logged on a computerised mapping information system and total over 24,000 at the last inventory.
A highway inspector investigates first reports of blocked gullies and decides on the required action.
A lorry-based suction machine works on the Borough’s cleaning operation, which is a continuous ongoing cycle based on a network regime. Gully Routes - 2007/08
The suction machine lorry has to travel to a disposal site in Ferndown to discharge its load in order to comply with the requirements of The Environment Agency and Waste Management Regulations.
Some of the problems experienced during the gully cleansing operation are:
- Gullies that have been used for fly tipping, even containing car batteries, sump oil, garden refuse or hardened concrete.
- Vehicles parked over gullies which are programmed to be cleaned.
- Grating covers stolen.
- Grating covers dropped into the gully, which then requires excavation and replacement of the pot.
Any problems should be reported using the links below, giving the road name, gully position and as much detail as possible such as an adjacent house or lamp column number, your name and a contact telephone number or email address if you would like us to subsequently advise you of the actions that we have taken as a result of your report.
The local water supply company is Bournemouth & West Hants Water plc. They are responsible for their supply up to and including the water stopcock. To report a burst water main, you should call Bournemouth & West Hants Water Customer Services on (01202) 590059
This is the responsibility of the homeowner or landlord and would need the attention of a plumber (see Yellow Pages or similar directories).
The statutory main rivers are the responsibility of the Environment Agency, on 0845 933 3111. In addition, the Agency provides a Floodline, which is a 24 hour advice and information service for floods and flood warnings on 0845 988 1188.
Watercourses, other than main rivers, are the responsibility of riparian owners. You are a riparian owner if your property or land is on, or very near, a watercourse. Riparian owners have a duty to keep the watercourse clear of any obstruction allowing it to flow and the Council can serve legal notices on riparian owners to deal with such obstructions. Certain "strategic" watercourses, that are known to pose a high risk of flooding to property if they become blocked, are checked and maintained by the Council's contractor on a regular basis.
Bournemouth Council makes sandbags available to residents of the Borough, during emergency situations, to help enable them to protect their homes from flooding. However, we are prevented by law from providing sandbags to properties who front statutory main rivers (River Stour) as this is the responsibility of the Environment Agency, see above. Residents who are aware that their homes are at a high risk of flooding, eg. as a result of the close proximity of a watercourse, are recommended to obtain sandbags in advance from a builders' merchant to enable early preparation, as at times of flooding the Council's contractor may not be able to reach all properties before flooding occurs.
Please also visit our Coastal Management website area which includes information regarding coastal flooding and defences.
There are several ways to get in contact with us:
- You can use our online fault reporting service
- Email the Highways Team
- Tel: (01202) 451199 (during normal office hours)
Tel: (01202) 451145 (outside normal office hours)
Fax:(01202) 451007Just click on the following link to complete an online form to report highway flooding
| Contact details | |
|---|---|
| Bournemouth Council | |
| Town Hall, Bourne Avenue Bournemouth BH2 6DY | |
| Tel: 01202 451451 | |
| Fax: 01202 451000 | |
| Minicom: 01202 454728 | |
| Email: Enquiries | |