It is advisable to contact Anglian Water in the first instance for a blocked sewer and they will inform you if it is private or public.

Public means that Anglian Water are responsible for clearing it. If it is a private sewer, it would be your responsibility to pay for clearance, along with any other your neighbours that the sewer serves.

Maintaining a septic tank

As East Cambridgeshire is a relatively rural district, many properties do not have access to the main sewer and therefore have to use other systems such as septic tanks or cesspools. If you have one of these systems it is wise to understand how they work and what maintenance is required.

East Cambridgeshire District Council has a leaflet, designed to provide information to members of the public who have these systems, which can be found below:

Septic tank information leaflet (PDF)

If you have a package treatment plant maintenance is much more specialised and ideally you should have a maintenance contract with the company who supplied it. This type of system treats the sewage to a much higher standard and if working correctly it can be discharged into a watercourse, however a consent is required which must be obtained from the Environment Agency who can be contacted on 08708 506506.

If you have any further queries on these types of systems please contact the domestic team of environmental services:

Write to:

Environmental services, East Cambridgeshire District Council, The Grange, Nutholt Lane, Ely, Cambs, CB7 4EE
Telephone: 01353 665555
Email: ContactUs@eastcambs.gov.uk