Len Tingle Political Editor BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

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John and neighbour rodding out the collapsed sewer

Something was not right when John Harper woke up one morning just before Christmas 2005. He did not have to nose around much to discover what it was.

Raw sewage was overflowing into his home at Farnsfield in North Nottinghamshire.

John was not alone. All the houses in his street had the same problem. A main sewage pipe out in the street had collapsed and waste water and sewage was backing up into their properties.

As the problem was out in the street John and his neighbours reported it to the local water company and waited for it to be repaired.

They are still waiting.

"The company told us it was unadopted even though it is under the public street and carries sewage into their network," an exasperated John Harper told Politics Show for Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the North Midlands.

"I've lived here for years and never knew that.

"They have offered to take over responsibility for the pipe as long as we pay to have it repaired and it then passes their inspection as up to the required standard"

Severn Trent is the company which charges John Harper and his neighbours for water supply and sewage treatment.

In a statement issued from its Birmingham HQ, the company confirmed it washes its hands of "unadopted" sewers which are usually installed in the road by house builders.

They have never been inspected or legal responsibility transferred to the water companies.

Severn Trent, privatised with the rest of the water industry in 1991, provides water and sewage services for a large part of North Midlands and Lincolnshire.

The industry's trade association, Water UK, says all the water companies, including Leeds-based Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water in Newcastle, have exactly the same policy.

Paddy Tipping MP: 'Few home owners know who is responsible for sewer pipes'

"This is more of a problem than you might think," says Paddy Tipping, the local MP as he arrived to inspect the collapsed sewer at Farnsfield."

The government estimates that around half of all households use a section of private sewer pipes to get into the network."

Few of those householders have any idea that this is the case until things go wrong. Its not written on deeds and until recently searches carried out for house buyers simply reveal whether sewers exist.

It doesn't reveal who looks after them.

Paddy Tipping, a long time campaigner for fair charges and better services from water companies, is now trying to find some way of ensuring they take responsibility for all pipes running up to the boundaries of homeowners' property.

The companies themselves have no objection to this as long as the pipes are inspected and brought up to standard before they "adopt" them.

That begs the questions: who foots the bill to make them fit to pass the water company tests?

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