What is Operation Streamclean?

Operation Streamclean was established in 1992 in order to help reduce the pollution in the urban watercourses of Bristol. It is a partnership project jointly funded by Bristol City Council, the Environment Agency and Wessex Water and serves as the principle water quality forum in Bristol for the agencies.

Much of this pollution arises from incorrect domestic drainage arrangements and inherent problems associated with an old sewerage system. It aims to identify the sources of such pollution and to pursue the completion of remedial works to eliminate them.

Since the project began, the team has identified many properties with illegal drainage connections and of those, over 95% have been rectified by the property owners as enforced by Environmental Health Officers of Bristol City Council.

Investigations are catchment based with wrong connections being traced back from the polluting outfall directly to the offending properties. Wrong connections are often made during renovation work or the building of extensions but in some instances properties have been found to have been originally built with faulty plumbing. Typically washing machines, sinks and toilets are found to be connected to the wrong drains.

When pollution is attributable to infrastructure defaults such as blocked, broken or collapsed drains or wrongly connected public connections remedial action is also taken.

If you would like to know more about the project, or have a query regarding your drainage, telephone 0117 9224452 and ask for Operation Streamclean. Alternatively, if you have any other issues relating to drainage contact Wessex Water.

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