Meet the pollution detectives flushing out dodgy plumbing
Peter Booth and Ben Trinder are not men you want turning up at your doorstep. If they arrive, as they have done recently at five households in Bognor Regis, it is because a pipe somewhere in your home is inadvertently releasing pollution into the environment.
The pair are misconnection investigation technicians. They effectively work as pollution detectives for Southern Water, tracking down wastewater pipes wrongly connected by builders and plumbers to surface water drains rather than foul water drains. The mistakes often happen when an extension is built. They can mean washing machine water or, worse, anything flushed down a toilet, heads untreated down pipes to waterways and seas, rather than to a sewage treatment works. The Times has launched the Clean It Up campaign
