Ofwat has written to the Government to set out its views on implementation options for the transfer of private sewers and lateral drains into the ownership of water and sewerage companies.

Ofwat’s main concern now is that the transfer is implemented in a way that strikes an optimal balance between fairness, efficiency and minimising costs to companies and impacts on customer bills. Among the key points Ofwat has made in its response are that the introduction of a mandatory minimum standard for the construction of future sewers and drains is essential and that transfer on application, subject to assets being in a serviceable state, is the fairest approach as it minimises the inevitable cross-subsidy involved in transfer.

According to Ofwat, the ability to make informed decisions is still hampered by the significant uncertainty surrounding aspects of a transfer of responsibilities, particularly costs which it previously highlighted in its response to Defra's 2003 consultation on private sewers and lateral drains in England and Wales  Ofwat comments that

“Four years later our knowledge of the extent and state of the privately owned asset base has hardly improved and the liabilities on the companies that a transfer of responsibilities would impose are still unknown. A significant proportion of the infrastructure transferred will undoubtedly be revealed to be in poor condition and of marginal serviceability. “

n Ofwat’s view, pilot schemes designed to test alternative transfer options would yield data that would help inform decisions on the form, scale and pace of transfer and reduce the uncertainty surrounding costs. The schemes would also be a practical way of reducing the knowledge gaps that the studies carried out to date have not satisfactorily addressed.

Ofwat is part of the Defra-chaired Private Sewers Steering Group and will be working with other stakeholders on the next stages of the review.