adoptadrain.org.uk

Adopt a Drain

Community care for roadside drains.

Somebody has to look at the drains.

A blocked drain floods a pavement, then a driveway, then a front room. Keeping the grating clear takes a few minutes, and it is the sort of thing a street can do for itself.

No account needed to look. We only ever keep the first half of a postcode.

How it works

  1. Adopt one

    Pick a drain you pass anyway. Watching it from a window counts.

  2. Check it

    Three taps and a photo, standing at the kerb. Works without signal.

  3. Report the rest

    Anything below the grating is the council's job. We hand it over.

What this is not

This is not a replacement for the council. This is on top of what the council does, never instead of it.

The boundary is easy to hold in your head: leaves and litter on top of the grating are yours, if you want them. Anything below the grating — silt in the pot, a cracked or sunken frame, standing water that will not drain — is a job for the council, and we hand it straight over.

Nobody lifts a grating. Nobody steps into the carriageway. There are no scores and no leaderboards, because a street is not a competition.

Have a look round