Looking afterHighway Drainage

Flooding adviceFlooding can happen at any time. Heavy rain, sewers reaching capacity, blocked gullies, burst water mains, and overflowing culverts and rivers can all cause issues.

IF you encounter flooding:

• If road conditions permit, move vehicles to unaffected areas

• Avoid walking through floodwater, there could be hidden hazards

• Do not attempt to drive through floodwater, moving water can be very powerful and only a few inches can be enough to sweep a car away

• Advise children not to play in floodwater

• Listen to the advice of the authorities and follow any instructions

The Environment Agency’s ‘Floodline Warnings Direct’ service allows residents to receive free flood warnings relevant to their location.

Visit: www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk

FLOODLINE 0845 988 1188

More information on how to prepare if you are at risk of flooding can be found here:

www.birmingham.gov.uk/flooding

Report an issueReporting online is the quickest and easiest way to let us know of any issues. You can choose to receive updates and track what action has been taken. We will always aim to respond to your enquiry as quickly as possible. Please include location details, and a photo where possible, to help us find the issue quicker.

Emergency reporting out of hoursIf you consider any flooding you are reporting to be causing a serious hazard to traffic or pedestrians and in need of urgent attention, please telephone 0121 303 4149 (Monday to Friday, 5pm to 9am and weekends).

Visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/drainagePhone: 0121 303 6644

Highway drainageHighways drains, known as gullies, are situated at the edge of the road and take storm water from the highway into the sewer system. Litter, leaves and silt from rain water can block gullies, so our teams carry out over 114,500 gully cleansing operations each year to keep water flowing.

Why are gullies in my street overflowing?In periods of heavy rain sewers can reach capacity, even if gullies are clean. The volume of water entering the system may not be able to discharge into rivers because of rising river levels. Ground can also become saturated meaning that rainfall cannot easily drain away. This is usually a short term problem and water will drain away when the weather passes. Maintenance of the sewer system is the responsibility of the local water company.

What to expectCleaning an individual gully can take just a matter of minutes, so if we are cleaning the drainage in your street, we may not be on site for very long.

We may need to temporarily suspend parking or move vehicles in order to access gullies. Please pay attention to any parking restriction signage on the street. On the rare occasions we need to move parked cars, the vehicle will be moved to a nearby location and there will be no charge to the vehicle owner.

Our employees should always be polite and helpful. Feel free to speak to our teams on site should you require any information or help.

Severn Trent Water and South Staffs Water own and manage the network of public sewers for both foul and surface water across Birmingham.

To report an overflowing public sewer you should contact them directly:Severn Trent Water: 0800 783 4444

South Staffs Water: 0845 60 70 456 Numbers correct at time of print

Mobile technologyMobile technology allows us to track operations in real-time while early fault detection and warning systems on pumping stations in subways, tunnels and underpasses increases resilience.

Before After

Help us tackle...discharge of water onto the highway

Run-off of water from a private property onto the highway, for example from gutters or a disconnected down pipe, can create slip hazards and other problems on footways and roads.

Property owners are responsible for private drainage issues—and failing to do so might be an offence..

Our Highways Inspectors will issue advice if private drainage channels require attention. Block paving and other impermeable surfaces on drives also creates problems for highway drainage by increasing water flow onto the highway. Impermeable paving to drives should be avoided and requires planning permission. Please help us to tackle potential hazards by ensuring your property’s drainage is in good condition.

Did you know?On average 3768 tonnes of waste is removed during gully cleansing every year. That’s the equivalent of 20 houses!