Mains Water Full of Sand - why.

[MarkFish]

So I had a look under the hatch for the water supply on the pavement outside my house.

It was full of sand. I noticed the same in previous houses so I'm wondering if they fill it with sand for frost protection or some other good reason?

 

[denso13]

Just sand/dirt washed in from rainwater etc. filling it up

 

[Servotech]

So I had a look under the hatch for the water supply on the pavement outside my house.

It was full of sand. I noticed the same in previous houses so I'm wondering if they fill it with sand for frost protection or some other good reason?

Ants are the usual culprits!

 

[MarkFish]

So I had a look under the hatch for the water supply on the pavement outside my house.

It was full of sand. I noticed the same in previous houses so I'm wondering if they fill it with sand for frost protection or some other good reason?

Ants are the usual culprits!

Funnily enough there was a nest in there and the texture of the sandy soil was exactly right for ants, so I bet that's it.

Cleaned out now. A whole bucket of crud, delivered grain by grain by ants over 50 years. Amazing.