Be a septic sceptic!

Building a home in a quiet rural setting offers the owners many benefits; not least peace, beauty and tranquillity! But this type of location also brings additional responsibilities of ownership, not least understanding the impact your new house will have on the landscape and environment around you.

One of the most important considerations is drainage and wastewater management. The starting point here is to look for ways to connect to a main sewer if you can. This is legislated under 2010 Building Regulations and, if need be, you can use a pump station to facilitate the connection. You should arrange a site visit by a suitably qualified engineer – ideally a British Water accredited engineer – to find out if this is possible.

If a connection to the sewer proves impossible then you will need to manage your wastewater (i.e. water drained from baths, toilets, sinks, laundry etc.) safely and securely within the boundaries of your property, using a private drainage product, such as a septic tank or sewage treatment plant.

For many self-builders, for reasons of cost, this means installing a septic tank – a view that is typically backed up in cases where the installer is not a specialist drainage engineer. However, there are hidden dangers in this approach. A very high proportion of septic tank installations are entirely unsuited to the location they are placed in and, as a result, they pose a risk to public health and can cause local pollution. Off-mains drainage is tightly regulated, typically requiring a permit (known as a “permit to discharge”), so choosing the right solution for you requires professional advice from a drainage engineer.

Ultimately, though, the choices we all make should be rooted in a sense of responsibility and stewardship for the land we are living on. When it comes to off-mains drainage, it’s easy to think “out of sight, out of mind” – septic tanks are, of course, buried underground. But that would be dangerous for a product that deals with polluting waste. What’s also important to emphasise is that taking expert advice will ensure you aren’t on the receiving end of an unpleasant new reality, including overflowing toilets or drains!

OFF-MAINS DRAINAGE: THE LEGAL BIT

Legal responsibility for disposing of wastewater lies with you, the property’s owner. If wastewater from your house becomes the cause of local pollution, both you and your installer are at risk of prosecution under The Public Health Act 1936. The penalties can be a heavy fine and a large clean-up bill.

Clearly, there have been quite a few changes to off-mains legislation in England and Wales in the last 10 years or so. For example, the Environmental Permitting Programme – Second Phase (EPP2) introduced in 2010 in England and Wales tried to make off-mains drainage installation a less bureaucratic process.

Under EPP2, owners of small, domestic sewage tanks or plants could, under certain circumstances, be exempt from requiring a permit to discharge if they comply with various conditions. These include following industry installation guidance, incorporating manufacturers’ operational guidance, the British Standard BS6297 regarding soakaway design, and following the advice given by British Water regarding de-sludging and servicing.

You also need to have a product that has been performance-tested and certificated in line with European Standards (EN12566). Further new and binding rules were released for England in January 2015 but while these are helpful, they are open to interpretation. Our message is simple: while the Government has eased the administrative burden on property owners, this should not be mistaken for permission to act irresponsibly and your personal liability remains unchanged.