Wellyou're right, if its contaminated with raw sewage, everything must be binned and not consumed. I'd suggest you sort out the sewage pipe so that it's less likely to overflow in wet conditions.

Wouldn't advise growing veggies there for a couple of years to make sure there are no nasties in the soil. As Bamboo says the first thing is to sort the sewer pipe.

I suppose that you should bin the root vegetables that are growing in the contaminated soil but the leaf vegetable, broccoli, should be OK. Remove, and bin, the fleece to let the rain get to the soil and it will was the sewage remains out pretty quickly. Then the peas and any other vegetables that grow above the soil should be free from contamination. Organisms in the sewage will not be taken into the plant but in the end it depends on how you feel about eating the vegetables when you know what they have been growin in.

To prevent future occurrence can you dig out a drainage or overflow ditch?

I suspect the council would be less than amused at a drainage ditch for raw sewage! The problem with the pipe needs to be resolved.

Sorry...you do need to get the drain sorted out. I know from my old advice work, that if it is raw sewage the council treat it as an emergency 24hr repair...Or they did before the cuts. The sooner it is fixed the better.

I am quite sure that Price has already got the drain sorted, either by the Water Authority or a private contractor if it is septic tank drainage. It was a one-off event and the soil will quickly return to normal (worm poo, bird poo, caterpillar poo, cat poo, etc, etc). Animal manure in the soil, all contain similar bacteria to human sewage.

Well It's like a square well, with a cover on it, in the middle of the lawn. Usually it is a little bit filled, but I assume with the recent large amount of rain it just overfilled...I have not sorted it yet, I guess I would have to ask the housing association who owns my flat but getting to make them to do anything is the problem, and they ran out of budget for this year.

Beside the level of water in the well seems back to normal, what I think didn't help is that my gutter used to overflow so this area probably flooded from that as well, which by extension probably helped overflowing the sewer well.I had all the trouble in the world to get em to look at the gutter, but eventually months later they took out some dirt from the gutter, but I told em it leaks and bends in some places but they won't fix it! Still it won't change the fact that all my veggies are ruined...after the time and money I spent.

They will come to fix it more or less straight away Prince, it is not something they can ignore. And the sooner it is fixed the sooner you have your garden back.

If your housing association doesn't react simply contact the council. If necessary they will do the work and bill the housing ass.

The situation is now more clear to me, Prince m. Your 'well' is a septic tank and it is designed to discharge to a soakaway somewhere in the garden.Over the years all soakaways tend to choke up and need to be replaced. It sounds as if your soakaway is coming to the end of its useful life, although the extra water from the gutter won't help. In the first instance you should report this to the housing association and, if they won't do anything, then complain to the Environmental Health Department of the local council.

Thank you every one! Ill contact em and i will leave the broccollis but will scrap carrots and allium veggies, I might later add some soil to the patch and replace stuff by non edible plants as a precaution. I will try to grow my veg in containers, but it's expensive.

Edit, sorry for double posting...

Once the problem is sorted give the soil a chance to dry out and then dig over. Add more soil or compost to the patch and then try growing leafy salad veg. and other leafy veg. The faecal wont take that long to break down in the soil as the worms will be dealing with it. I know in an earlier post I suggested waiting for two years but a little more thought and checking indicates veggies that you eat top growth of should be okay fairly quickly.

Our Septic tank used to overflow on a regular basis. It was a shared one and our neighbours used to put all sorts of things down the toilet which blocked it. The blockage was always on our side and it was always me who finished up using our drainage rods to deal with it. I assume because we spent so much time putting the bagged blocking material back over the fence for them to deal with, they eventually put in their own Septic tank and I was able to block up the pipe from their property.
However, back to the problem in hand. Agree with everything folks have said, but for your peace of mind, the sewage disappears from your soil within weeks rather than months, especially if there has been reasonable amount of rain. It only hangs around if it is being constantly added to with more leaks.
I had our soil tested (S.i.l. does it for a living) and the soil from round our leakage was clear of any nasty buggits.

We called the housing association, which is trying to give the responsibility to Severn Trent waters, which in turn is saying it's the association's problem...what I'm more worried about for the soil though is chemicals such as soap and washing powder. What I have now in mind in to cover the contaminated soil with a plastic sheet and build a raised bed on top of it where I could plant stuff. Or I could put stuff in containers and pots.

Prince let the winter weather leach any baddies down through the soil covering with plastic will simply mean this does not happen, needs to be exposed to the air for microbial bacteria to work on. If Seven Water and the housing association are posturing just call your local environmental health office and report they will 'make' one or the other deal with using threats of prosecution if necessary, and yes the will prosecute.

Ah..I remember here in the North West there was a change of responsibility letter issued making North West Water responsible. However the property (your house) belongs to the housing Ass. Get them to do the arguing with Seven Trent...It is their property/their repair to sort out, regardless of who ends up doing the job.

Pim you are so sensible! May I suggest just for this year using growbags, then you can have some veg at least until your problem has been sorted.

In the end Severn Trent came around and did the job, they said it was clogged up washing powder, and that that drain was only ours and upstairs neighbour's kitchen. So it seems at the moment that it is in fact just stagnant water plus soap/washing powder/possibly fat and that sort of stuff.

I might put a few planting troughs on top to put my next veggies but leave some gaps for the air to get to the soil.

The rain will sort things out PM..It is a good time to dig the patch over and let the frost get to the soil as well. Glad you got things sorted.

I am pleased that it is now sorted. It is usually fats and grease that clog up drains so it is better to avoid putting them down the drain than using chemicals which will kill the good bacteria in the septic tank. Pimpernel's suggestion to dig over the ground now ahead of potential frosts is an excellent one.

Prince whilst I'm delighted the situation is resolved the pollution from washing powder and the like in your soil is, in some ways, more serious than straight faecal matter which will decay. The enzymes etc in modern washing powders do not break down. As you have a septic tank it is important to use non-biological products and preferably eco. friendly ones that will not kill the friendly bacteria you need in your septic tank.

You might want to learn a bit more about your septic tank and how it needs to be looked after copy and paste the link below into your web browser, not Google!

http://bit.ly/xRlvT4

We have lived in several properties with septic tanks and you do need to be more careful of the products you use.

It is not a sceptic tank however, just a shallow concrete hole, around 50x50x50 cm where the pipes connect. looks like the bathroom one is somewhere else and goes a complete different direction. I was quite surprised as well when the bloke said there was fat because I keep my fat in bottles and dispose of it at the tip. But it seems that my upstairs neighbour's kitchen water goes down there too so it might be hers. And yeah like moon says I am more concerned about washing powder contamination. I was actually thinking of digging out the soil and replacing it later with some fresh compost and top soil, which I'm afraid will be costly. My patch is like a border of 60x 320 cm. However that would have to wait till the weekend as I am too busy with work and I basically go to work in the dark, come back home in the dark as well.