YEARS of misery for thousands of south Essex residents is set to come to an end following a much-needed change in the law.

From October, water and sewage firms will be forced to take charge of unadopted sewers, which are currently the responsibility of homeowners.

As it stands, when there is a problem with these pipes it is up to residents to repair, but the law change means the companies will now foot the bill.

There are thousands of miles of unadopted sewers and water pipes across the UK, with Anglian Water estimating it will have to take over 13,000 miles of pipes in the East of England.

Pam Kerr, 64, who lives on the Saints estate in Canvey, where about 500 homes are on unadopted sewers, has suffered from more than 30 years of problems.

She said: “It’s wonderful news. It’s been miserable at times, the council and the water companies told us it’s nothing to do with them, so we’ve had to do it ourselves.

“It’s not just the inconvenience, when they start blocking up you get a terrible smell that lasts for weeks on end.”

Unadopted sewers have come about for a number of reasons.

Entire housing estates are often on private sewers following legal wrangles over the quality of the pipes.

In 1989, many more unadopted sewers were created when the Government privatised the industry.

Many of the newly created water firms refused to take over some sewers from local authorities, claiming they were not up to scratch.

Canvey in particular has a high number of private sewers, but they exist in pockets throughout south Essex.

When an unadopted sewer gets blocked it becomes the responsibility of all the homes which connect to it, often leading to disputes between residents over who was to blame for the problem.

William Batt, 75, of Barbara Avenue, Canvey, lives on a line of 26 properties served by an unadopted sewer, and has often had to organise a plumber when there has been a blockage.

He said: “It got quite embarrassing having to go round knocking on 26 houses saying the pipes are blocked up again, we’re going to have to call someone out. Most people are all right about it but some kick up a fuss.”

The transfer will cover any sections of sewer or pipe which people share with their neighbours and any pipes outside the boundary of people’s property that connect them to the sewer network.

Pipes within the boundary of people’s property and which serve them alone will remain the responsibility of homeowners.

Ray Howard, Castle Point Tory councillor for waste and recycling has been campaigning for almost two decades for the law change.

Despite being a Conservative, he was adamantly opposed to Margaret Thatcher’s decision to privatise the water industry.

He said: “Sewage should be in public ownership.

“I’m not against privatisation, with things like the telephone and the gas you have a choice of the company that provides it for you. But with water you only have one tap and that should be a public service.

“I’ve seen sewage spilling into people’s homes and no one would take responsibility. That is simply outrageous.”

It is estimated more than ten million homes are served by private sewers, while the water industry believes the law change will cost it in excess of £4.2billion.

Stephen Cook, private sewers programme manager at Anglian Water, said: “Although the transfer takes place on October 1, bills will not increase as a result until 2014 at the earliest.

“We estimate it will be less than £1 a month on an average bill. By doing all you can to keep the pipes serving your home in good condition, you can make a big difference to the size of any increase.”

“That means not putting fats, oils and grease into drains, where they can solidify to cause blockages and flooding. Flushing items like wipes and nappies down the toilet is also a major cause of blocked pipes.

“If we could stop these sorts of things entering the sewers, we would cut the number of blockages in half, which would reduce the impact on customer bills.”