Septic Tank

Devonjem

We are in the process of buying a house. There is a septic tank which drains to a drainage field in the garden. Next to the garden is a road which has a small ditch alongside in the verge. That verge is also owned by the seller. The new septic tanks rules say that from 2020 a permit will be needed for discharge from a septic tank directly into a watercourse. This particular system drains to a drainage field rather than piping the effluent directly to a watercourse, but seems to me that the presence of the ditch so close to the edge of the drainage field might be a breach of something - maybe building regs. We will get an expert to look at it but just wondering if anyone has come across this problem before and whether the Environment Agency can force the owner to change something even though there is no direct discharge to a watercourse.


thanks

Kat88

You are right, the rules will change so in 2020 septic tanks are now no longer allowed to drain to watercourses, for obvious reasons really. Phosphate pollution is a huge issue and it costs £££ to strip it out of the water (water companies find it hard enough) and it affects fish and invertebrates in the river.

Whether this will affect you depends on the drainage field, is it sufficient in that it drains through the soil underground and doesn't get waterlogged and flood? Is the river you are near protected in anyway, SSSI or SAC or SPA site? If it is then its even more likely to be an issue. In terms of building regs I believe it has to be more than 10m away from water, and so again this is likely to be breaching it. All you may need to do is find a suitable location to move it to that is within the rules, or convert it to a new system that discharges to a soak away and is therefore treated in some way.

The EA can force you to change it if its not within the rules, if I were you I would ask the seller whether it has a soakaway (presumably not) and how old it is as this will affect how the agency deal with it.

Davesnave

These are the binding rules currently in force, which you may find useful:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/397173/ssd-general-binding-rules.pdf

I would add that two of my neighbours have discharge pipes which end quite close to a small watercourse, so far without any investigation from the EA, who must test the stream. Rumour has it that both were forced to improve their systems years ago, and that my own septic tank outflow was similarly upgraded at that time.

Since then, at least two of us have re-routed the pipes, in my case to a new soakaway, but mine is still about 30-40 metres from the stream.

None of the three systems works flawlessly in unfavourable weather. We are well-drained and on a slope here, but one reason why I renewed the soakaway and run-out was due to polluted water at the surface in 2012-13.

Frankly, I can't imagine how any such system could cope on our land, where springs come to the surface in random places in a wet winter, but we have made it as good as we can.

Hoploz

Is a ditch necessarily a water course? I am thinking maybe it doesn't actually flow as such, just drains away maybe?

Devonjem

Thanks for the replies. Looks like the final outflow is not the drainage field but the ditch alongside the road. Surveyor says this is unlawful and needs fixing by 2020. Looks like the septic tank/drainage field will no longer work in this location, so a treatment plant might be needed. Raised this with the seller but so far no response.


Does anyone have experience of treatment plants and the cost of buying/installing one?


thanks

Hoploz

No but I will follow with interest.

I would suggest that since the change wouldn't need to be made until 2020, the seller would probably not consider themselves liable for any of the cost.

Davesnave

Hoploz wrote: »

No but I will follow with interest.

I would suggest that since the change wouldn't need to be made until 2020, the seller would probably not consider themselves liable for any of the cost.

I agree with this, so if the seller offers any kind of monetary olive branch, it will be a good result.

Treatment plants vary in size and complexity so they are hard to price, but it may be possible to reuse the existing tank as a first stage in a modified system.

Madmel

We have a treatment plant as do several of our neighbours. It was installed by the previous owners of this place, around 15 years ago. We have to keep the paper records of its annual service and any work carried out on the system to satisfy the Environment Agency, but when they last got in touch, they were quite happy.

I live in Devon and when I return home tomorrow can PM you the name of the people who installed and maintain our system. They are not cheap but they operate a 24 hour call-out and are really nice to deal with. Finally, when we had the place surveyed 9 years ago, the surveyor described the treatment system as "the Rolls Royce of sewage disposal". He thought it was amazing!

Kat88

Package treatment plants are supposed to work better, but in reality usually have similar phosphorous issues. In my opinion they are worse than septic tanks, as in the main, septic tanks don't get piped straight to a watercourse. Everything that goes through your package treatment plant will end up in the river :eek:

Not a lot you can do though, just research which type of system might be best for you (looking at local conditions) and get quotes

Devonjem

Thanks for the replies. The GOV website on the issue says "If you have a septic tank that discharges directly to a surface water you will need to replace or upgrade your treatment system by 1 January 2020, or when you sell your property if before this date."


It goes on to state that the EA can require any such discharge to be ceased within 12 months if it is causing pollution.


My view is that I am buying a house with a drainage system that I expected to last longer than 4 years (particularly as it is relatively new and that point was part of the asking price justification). So to find out that it will not last long before having to spend a lot of money on it makes me take the view that it is not something that I should be expected to swallow. But in any event it seems the EA can get involved at any time before 2020 if they want you to stop the discharge - all they have to say is that it is causing pollution, which I suppose it is if it is discharging to a surface water channel.


Not sure why the GOV website says "or when you sell your property if before this date" - how can they enforce that? Presumably they expect that buyers will insist on the change before they buy - which is my view.


Anyway I am reluctant to buy into this problem, and most likely won't.


Thanks

Davesnave

Devonjem wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. The GOV website on the issue says "If you have a septic tank that discharges directly to a surface water you will need to replace or upgrade your treatment system by 1 January 2020, or when you sell your property if before this date."

Anyway I am reluctant to buy into this problem, and most likely won't.

OK, but I don't think that description matches the one you gave us in your first post: "There is a septic tank which drains to a drainage field in the garden."

That is not "discharging to surface water," though distances aren't mentioned so it's difficult to know what would happen in practice.

The 2010 regulations did not allow discharge within 7 metres of a watercourse, so that gives some indication of the sort of distances the EA considered acceptable.

With many property purchases, there are times when expert opinion should be sought, and it seemed that you were going down this route. Now you appear to have gone cold on the property, which is understandable, but it seems to me that this is just another issue like bad thatch, dampness or ancient wiring, all of which might cost as much, or more than a treatment set up, and be more disruptive to fix.