Soakaway tips to reduce flooding risks
A Soakaway has a finite capacity. Whilst they can help to manage surface water at your home there are a number actions you can take to generally reduce the risks of flash flooding.
SOAKAWAY CAPACITY
Please ensure that you have as much soakaway area as possible, within your own property. Aerate lawns to allow water to penetrate and fork borders, to allow water to soak in to the soakaway. Please use permeable materials where possible.
DRAINS and GULLIES
These should all been cleaned out at the end of the summer but some are occasionally missed, either due to parked vehicles or other reasons. It is a good maintenance policy that they should be cleaned out annually.
DEBRIS and STONES ON DRIVEWAYS
If you are responsible for property you should note that stones/pebbles on driveways must be retained by a kerb and must not be allowed to escape to the footway or road drainage. Also they must definitely not find their way into the gullies. If you do the local council could ultimately charge for gullies that need to be cleaned out more frequently in extreme cases.
PROPERTY FENCES and WALLS
All householders should ensure that the water can flow past or through these. In several cases drains contractors have found that the water backed up and then went through air bricks and caused flooding inside the home.
Your drainage system, including the soakaway, is an important albeit unseen part of your home systems. Good design and regular maintenance will keep it operating efficiently .