To feel panicked about this in a holiday cottage we have arrived at?!

[Ubghren]

Arrived at a holiday cottage this morning and there was a large sign saying septic tank so be careful with only flushing loo roll.

I know nothing about these apart from once reading that they can allow dirty water into the bath/shower facilities or into drinking water. Is this remotely possible due to a tank like this? I am so stressed and been worrying all day as have young dc.

Calm down (or stay at home if that’s not possible). Septic tanks are what all people who are off grid for sewage use. Just put normal stuff down the toilet, ie. Nothing other than toilet paper.

Do you have health anxiety or something? This is nonsense.

@Ubghren
You really should get some treatment for your anxiety. I’d say 100% of people would see a sign saying there is a septic tank, shrug their shoulders and carry on with their holiday.
You must be the 0.00001% scared of a septic tank.

There is zero chance of your drinking water being contaminated. There is the same risk of a blockage in the water pipes as you have in your own home so if you’re not scared of your own bath or shower or toilet then don’t be scared of this one. You are at level zero of risk.

No.

the very worst that can happen is it can come back up through the drain it left through. so when you drain a bath or sink it’s the the hole where you pull the plug from not through the taps or shower head!

But even then it’s so so unlikely before it will probably escape throughout drains outside first.

my parent lived with a septic tank my whole childhood and we never ever had a problem. In fact until I lived in a town I didn’t know there was a difference between them. It was exactly the same living there as it has been ever since I lived in a city.

honestly you are building this up and scaring yourself for no reason.

Omg I’ve just read your updates. You’re an idiot. Stop spreading your idiocy.

The simple answer to your fears is no. The waste going into the septic tank is a closed system. Its not going to come out of the taps or shower as they are a supply pipe separate to that system.

I think you need to consider help for anxiety as this is irrational. Septic tanks really common in the country, and we are not all washing in or drinking shit

That's the Waste pipe where water that has been used goes. The water that goes into your cistern, shower, taps is totally different pipes and can't cross over.

Complete nonsense. All rural properties have them, they are safe and normal. You shouldn't flush wipes or sanitary protection down the mains either fyi.

With mains drainage your sewage and dirty water empties out into the main sewage pipe, it's just the same but with a tank instead of of a pipe. The tank isn't in the house! The only way it could back up into toilet or other drains is if there was a massive blockage, and the same would apply to your mains sewage system.

Maybe you should just stay at home in future OP 😂

Please get some help for your anxiety and I say that kindly, truly.

oh and yeah we have a septic tank as do all the houses around us. Totally normal. Our drinking water is well water and so much better than the chemical filled water we used to drink when we lived in towns.

Somewhere between 5 and 10% of homes in the UK have a septic tank… and yet, we don’t have outbreaks of cholera… because they’re just as safe as the mains sewage system.

Honestly OP, 5% of the UK are not sitting in baths of sewage water. They are no different at all from the system you use at home when it comes to safety of water.

No.
Waste water and clean water are separate systems. They don't cross over.
The only remote possibility if there was a blockage is I guess the waste water backing up and coming out the plug hole (extremely unlikely and the same as with mains drains). It will not effect your clean water supply.

"i thought drinking water was separate but the rest all connected? No need to get annoyed, I just don’t really understand the systems"

You don't need to understand, you just need to sensibly think for a second whether these could even exist in the high risk way you are imagining. That nobody except a random online comment (of which you can't remember any details) has noticed this huge error. Not environmental health experts, not sewage designers or installers, not the thousands of people for whom this is normal life....

You are being ridiculous, you need to get help for your anxiety. There are clearly a lot of things in life you'll never understand (how planes fly, how antibiotics work, how Pringles get their shape...) you can't go around thinking that you not understanding makes something bad or dangerous.

I’m trying to get my head around how the OP thinks that the taps other than the cold tap in her kitchen sink are supplied - this would seem to imply she thinks that her bath taps are filling her bath with previously used and untreated water from drains; does she think this is just her own previously used bathwater, or that of her neighbours too? I cannot believe that anyone else who is grown up could think this, having given it even a moment’s consideration. Baffled, honestly.

I've come to the conclusion that Western civilisation is doomed! The levels of anxiety about perfectly ordinary things astounds me.
If you hadn't been told that it was a septic tank, would you be so anxious?
And most water companies tell you not to flush anything but the 3 'p' s. There really is no difference.

I find it very hard to believe that an adult wouldn't know the water that comes into your house does so by completely separate pipes to the water that leaves your house as waste.

lol. The stuff that people worry about !

We really need to licence for parenthood.

And the vote.

IT CAN'T

Stop stressing....!

In the UK all water coming in is clean. You could drink the water that comes into your toilet if you want. All water water from toilets taps etc goes into different pipes that flow either into the sewers or a septic tank. Nothing can come back into the bath or shower.

I live in a house with a Septic tank with three young children and we don’t drink or have baths in the septic tank water.

If you were in a situation were the house or any house flooded then I’d imagine there is a chance the water would be contaminated. But that goes for any system. Stop worrying and enjoy your holiday.

Grew up in an old farmhouse with a septic tank that needed emptying as you mention. Never ever had a problem that I remember. Enjoy your holiday, get some bottled water in if you are that bothered but honestly.. you'll be fine!!

You treat them like any other form of foul water disposal - nothing goes in but the three Ps. Just as your mains system can block and back up if you flush baby wipes or sanpro, so can septic tanks. However, private systems are usually maintained better than the public foul sewer.

No. The outflow pipes are separate from the inflow of potable water. Just like on the mains drainage system.