Would you live close to a sewage pumping station

frenchbaguette

The house we have been in the process of buying turns out to have a sewage pumping station within the grounds. It is owned and maintained by the local water company so technically where it sits in our garden belongs to them, not us and they have right of access up to it within our garden. The vendor and estate agent did not disclose this, our solicitors brought it to our attention. The garden is quite large but it is still close to the house (about 15 meters away). It serves 4 other houses as well as our one. I am concerned about noise and odours. Can anyone please offer their experiences of living near to one or one within their property grounds? Thank you. 

comeandgo

We have a large sewage pumping station on our estate but not in anyone's garden.  In the 15 years it has been active never been any problems, no odour, no noise no nothing.  There are also pipes taking the waste to wherever and we cannot plant any trees along the line in case of tree roots casing problems.

Falafels

We have a small pumping station serving the same number of properties as yours. It has never been the slightest trouble. Unlike the ancient sewage system with insufficient fall which it replaced! It’s actually situated on a small parcel of land less than five metres away from next door, so very close to the house. The only effect you notice is that bath water etc drains very, very quickly.

I’m guessing the vendor didn’t disclose it because it’s a non-issue to them. If it’s in someone’s garden, it suggests it was originally a private one which would have been jointly maintained by the householders whose properties were served by it. All the private pumping stations were taken over by the water companies in 2016, so no further responsibility fell to householders. (This was a bit of a relief, too!)

I really wouldn’t worry about it.

macman

Within your boundary or adjacent to it? If within, then do they pay ground rent to the vendor? If the latter, then they should certainly have disclosed it. 
I would be more concerned about access than noise or odours, because it's simply a pumping station, not a treatment works. Is the access on foot only, and what happens ig they need to bring heavy machinery on site for repairs or maintenance?

davidmcn

macman said:

what happens ig they need to bring heavy machinery on site for repairs or maintenance?

If it only serves five houses than I expect it's a relatively titchy pump.