A bit of context: my entire street (and surrounding) has been re-paved for the last 1.5-2 years. They also redid all the sewage and rain water pipes (which are now 2 separate lines). Everyone in the neighbourhood now got a letter saying we have to be home for half a day so they can inspect if our rain water and sewage systems are in fact seperated.
However, no one actually had any work done on the pipes inside their houses? The company just broke open the pavement, connected the pipes on the outside of our houses to the pipes below the street and re-did the pavement.
Obviously we called the inspection company, and they said we have to get this inspection done and if we can’t be home on any of the dates provided, we’ll have to pay for a day where we can be home since they will have to come especially for us. They said we won’t have to let anyone inside, just turn on all the taps so they can hear the water running through the correct pipe.
Also, this is what the person said the second time we called. The forst person said they’ll come to inspect whether we have 2 seperate pipes for the toilet and everything else (taps, bathroom sinks, etc.). However, no houses in our street have this, since all houses were built in the sixties-seventies and most had no remodelling done in the last 10-20 years.
Can anyone advise? Thank you in advance and sorry for the wall of text.
The letter (dutch): https://imgur.com/a/JHsB1nQ
7 comments
Forgot to say: we also wonder why the inspection wasn’t here when the pavement was removed so they could just SEE that we have different pipes for rain water & the rest?
If it is not separated u will be forced to fix this at own expense.
“Afkoppelingsbeleid” –> it is called in dutch i think.
It is why we in our renovation last year decided to eat the bill and separate the pipes. A bit silly they didn’t inform you when they did all that work.
The first person who answered was an idiot. You need to separate rain from all other water, like the second person said. It’s a requirement, and people not doing it will get fined. I imagine this was communicated a while before this? Or they might just inspect everyone now, and give them x months to fix things.
But apart from that, I don’t get your issue? Of course you need to be home for the inspection. Just like someone needs to be home for electricity/gas/water meter inspections or installations.
>However, no houses in our street have this, since all houses were built in the sixties-seventies and most had no remodelling done in the last 10-20 years.
It’s going to rain fines.
They are probably doing an inspection because they suspect something is wrong.
Sending sewage water down the drain water is bad for environment, and sending rain water into the sewage line overloads the system.
Why didn’t you separate your pipes when they were working on it? When they’re working on it, it’s free. Else you have to pay thousands of euros if you want to have it installed.
I had something similar happened to me in other country.
I don’t know the standards in Belgium, but usually these inspections are common and they were suppose to perform them from time to time or after a major change in the house.
Sometimes people connect rainwater lines to sewer lines because it’s easier and the pipe is already there and i saw the contrary too. Sometimes they will also check in the sewage boxes if there is no water coming from underground.
Its pretty standard to user some dye in the drains and in the toilets to be sure that the water ia going to the correct place.