Drain Engineers in Tonbridge for Fast Drain Unblocking

Drainage in Tonbridge

Why drains block in Tonbridge, and what we do about it

Tonbridge grew up on the River Medway, with streams such as the Botany Stream, Hilden Brook and Pen Stream running through the town to join it. The Leigh Flood Storage Area upstream protects the town from the river, but Kent County Council's flood report for the borough shows that drainage at street level is a separate problem.

In the town centre, the report says flooding mainly comes from the Botany Stream backing up through the highway drains onto Avenue du Puy. Around the River Centre industrial estate and Avebury Avenue, drains can't empty when their outfalls are under water, so water pools in the low streets. When the river is high, a drain that's already part-blocked has nowhere to go.

The Leigh barrier and its limits

The Leigh Flood Storage Area was built in 1981 to protect an estimated 1,200 properties in the Tonbridge area. Over Christmas 2013 it was operated to protect 938 homes, but the flood was bigger than it was designed for and properties still flooded. The scheme has since been enlarged. It deals with the river; the drains at street level are a separate job.

Clay ground and quick runoff

Below the town the Medway valley sits on heavy Weald Clay, and the Pen Stream catchment responds quickly to rain. Water doesn't soak away easily, so gullies, channel drains and soakaways have to cope with more of it. Older clay pipes under the town's Victorian streets also suffer from roots and shifted joints.

Is it your drain or Southern Water's?

Southern Water maintains the public sewers in Tonbridge. A drain serving only your property, inside your boundary, is usually yours. If we find the blockage is on the public side, we'll tell you so you can report it, rather than charging you for it.

Source: Kent County Council, Flood Risk to Communities: Tonbridge and Malling.