How do we get connected to the mains sewers?

[hmcAsWas]

We moved into a newly built property two years ago. Its semi rural but hardly remote (there's a busy golf club next to us - I bet they are on mains drainage) - and yet we only have a cesspit type arrangement (waste goes down to a cesspit type thing with friendly bacteria in it, is made 'safe' and then goes through an outlet to be dispersed underground through a drainage field - I haven't explained that well!). During a routine inspection on Thursday we found that it wasn't draining - is blocked somehow - is virtually full to the brim and urgently needs emptying by a tanker, and then they are going to put a camera down to see what is causing the problem. A whole world of hassle, which I can imagine might happen again and again.

Sod the cost, I want to connect to the mains sewer - it can't be far away. I've looked at Southern Waters website and it all looks very complicated - have to put in an application, get a contractor to do it for us etc and it has to meet their standards. Kind of don't want to go there - might end up with a cowboy contractor.

I'd rather Southern Water do it and bill us - but I can't find that option....

Anyone had their property connected to mains sewer and how did you do it? Any advice gratefully received

You have a septic tank, not a cess pit. Septic tanks should be emptied once per year to remove a build up of solids. If this is done then the solids travel through to the soak away and it becomes blinded. Once all the solids have settled within the gaps between the media (stone or plastic I assume) then the water can no longer soak away into the ground and it backs up like you are experiencing now.

Mains connection is not an easy job at all, the last couple my company any have done took months to arrange and cost between 56k and 130k (cost will depend on distance). You will also possibly need a small submersible pump unit installed dependant on gradient and distance. These will require regular maintenance and as with all mechanical parts, can fail especially if you are not very careful at what you put down your drains.

I wouldnt assume just because you have a large golf course next to you that they are on mains. Likelihood is that they have their own treatment works and discharge to water course.

In my experience, a well maintain septic tank is the best solution if you can’t afford for mains connection.

Do you know the capacity of your septic tank and soakaway? I should be able to give you a ball park figure on where you need to go next and how much it will cost?

Sorry my first paragraph should say if this ISNT done re the tank emptying

Thanks SmokingGun - yes its a septic tank, sorry. We haven't had it emptied before and have lived here two years. We were septic tank 'virgins' and had never had one before. I did ask the builder if we needed to do anything with the septic tank but he said that no, it would take care of itself!!!! I shouldn't have accepted that misinformation on face value and should have done my own research.

I guess that's what has happened, because it wasn't emptied after a year then solids have settled within the gaps and it has backed up. Is that recoverable situation or does the soakaway need to be 'rebuilt'?

I don't know the capacity of the septic tank and soakaway unfortunately

Thanks for your advice

We've had a vastly escape garden put in - great fun to have to dig it up

If it was possible to easily connect to the main sewer I would have thought the builders would have done it at the time.

Treated correctly a modern septic tank shouldn’t actually need ‘emptying’ every year but it’s good practice to desludge it every 18 months or so. Do you by any chance use bleach/other non septic tank approved cleaning materials? Do coffee grounds/ fat etc go down the sink?

The golf course will most likely have some sort of treatment works.

... and most people in rural areas have septic tanks, it’s very common and you should be able to find someone to empty it for you easy enough. Many local farm contractors advertise it as an extra service.

I suspect it probably just needs emptying, desludging and then using properly

not sure why a camera would be needed unless you keep having problems!

"If it was possible to easily connect to the main sewer I would have thought the builders would have done it at the time"

Not if the builder's motive was to keep costs down and maximise profit though...Sadly he is known for that

I use bleach sparingly and not frequently (I looked it up and it said small quantities of bleach were okay on an infrequent basis). Mostly I use Ecover cleaning products.

Coffee grounds go down the sink. I am careful with fat and try to avoid large quantities going down the sink - but a bit has probably escaped from time to time.

Completely recoverable, absolute worst case is that you need all the media taken out and replaced but to be honest in 12 years I have only known of that to happen twice and both were in properties that were emptied for years before being bought.

Initially you have a couple of options;

1. Tanker the cess pit and soakaway completely. If it only serves your property it will be no more than 18m3 over both chambers (even that’s a very very high assumption). The arrange for a cctv survey to be put down the septic tank and into the soakaway to see if there is either a blockage between the 2 (pretty common) or if the soakaway is blinded.

Option 2) Arrange for a combination unit (tanker with high powered water better on board) to empty both chambers, jet between the 2 and blast the soakaway which can dislodge quite a bit of solids.

Personally I would go straight for option 2. You have nothing to loose.

If you feel comfortable doing so, feel free to let me know your general area (nearest town or your county) and I can let you know some reputable firms I have dealt with tankering wise?

Sorry, I meant coffee grounds do not go down the sink. We use a coffee machine that takes capsules

SmokingGun - you are a legend. We are in the New Forest area close-ish to Southampton and Salisbury

It’s not cost cutting, if mains sewers aren’t available then the only option is a septic tank.

It would be unreasonable to expect a builder to lay miles of pipes to the nearest mains sewer, as smoking has said the costs would probably be pretty prohibitive.

Once you get it emptied I suggest not putting coffee grounds down the sink any more. The only things that go into our septic tank is waste water and human waste. Everything else gets composted.

I’ve PM’d you a couple of company’s hmc

It’s also worth mentioning, it’s not just the cost. The mains have to go somewhere, so a nearby large treatment works is needed. Plus gravity will only allow the waste to go so far, especially in rural, hilly areas. Even with pump stations installed, the only have so much head to pump with.

Coffee grounds don't go in the sink Scrowy.- my first response was a typo, subsequently corrected

Sadly, I have reason to mistrust the builder unfortunately. We have found a few 'short cuts' along the way

That's what goes down ours as a rule too - waste water and human waste. No sanitary items, wet wipes, cooking fat or other no no's

Thanks SmokingGun - will check my messages

Don't forget, you're not paying the water company every year to dispose of your sewage, the way you would be if on the main sewer.

A well functioning septic tank may very rarely need emptying. I'd go back to one, given the choice.

Thanks SmokingGun, Scrowy and Dancing Ledge for giving me a more balanced perspective on septic tanks. I do tend to hit a problem and then overreact I suppose....

I have a Gold service contract with Kingspan and they are sending out a company called CSG tomorrow to empty the tank. CSG happens to be one of Smoking's recommendations so I am hopeful this will all be efficienty resolved. Can't wait as I am sick of bothering my SIL to use her shower, washing machine etc and we are getting some funky smells coming up from our drains in our bathrooms

Bit nervous that when the landscapers put in a garden a year ago they might have damaged the soakaway - but there I go again, catastrophizing!

Will update tomorrow - bet you can't wait! (not)

Bloody hell!

Costs so far:

£200 to Kingspan for CSG to empty 1000 litres from the septic tank (have since found out it could have been cheaper to go to them direct)
Another £200 when the tanker got full and more litres had to be drained
£160 reinspection visit from Kingspan which happened today - and proved fairly unhelpful. They don't apparently do 'camera' inspection so can't tell me where the suspected blockage is!!! (what the fluffing point was there in them coming then)
Have contacted CSG who do offer CCTV inspection but the lady is out of the office - however have been informed that CCTV inspection will cost £180 for the first hour plus £90 for every half hour after that

Then there will be the costs of putting right whatever they find

And the cost of making good my newly landscaped gardens

Plus finally replacement motor and gear box (because water flooded the other one and ruined it)

Am back to hating septic tanks

@hmcAsWas - only just saw this. Motor and gearbox you say? Septic Tanks do not have these. Have you ever looked under the lid, if so does it look something like this?

Didn’t your lawyer raise the issue with you when you bought the house?

When we lived in Jersey we had two houses with these sort of arrangements. They need more work and care than just drains, and you need a good contractor to help keep them working well

Septic tanks work fine. We have had one for 30 years installed by us to replace the old system when we bought the house.

What you have is not a normal arrangement. We have ours emptied every year and it’s good practice to do this to keep it in working order. A septic tank should have a soakaway to minimise the liquid in the tank. What system was declared to you when you bought the house? With the volume being removed it sounds like a faulty soakaway. What is the pump for? Has the system passed the requirements of the drainage authority? Eg Water Company? They approve soakaway for example.

Also, if you want mains drainage, you have to know where you can connect into it. If it is across someone else’s land, forget it. It could be miles away and the cost will be huge even if it’s posdible.

Sometimes it’s cheaper to start again rather than put right what is wrong so be open to this. I would want a system without a pump, so do you know why you have one? Does there need to be drainage for surface water if the pump is flooded?

Have had a visit from a reputable national drainage company today. Not going to mention names of companies now or be too identifying as considering my legal position vis a vis builder or the NHBC.

Apologies for my previous misinformation based on ignorance - what I have is more appropriately termed a sewage treatment plant (the engineer told me) - a good piece of kit by the industry leader but only in so far as to what it empties out to. Connected to the sewage treatment plant is a soakaway. The sewage treatment does not have a motor and pump, just a pump apparently and works on gravity.

The Engineer today (who inspired confidence and seems to know his onions) said that the builder clearly did not know what he was doing and installed something (the soakaway) not fit for purpose. He doubts a percolation test was done since the water table is high and its a clay soil -two reasons why a soakaway would not work well. Clearly we producing more waste water than the soakaway can deal with (which frankly is a minimal amount). The soakaway is not big enough, located in heavy soil and with a high water table).

He was astonished that the builder had located my sewage treatment plant right now my patio and French windows into the garden (we were aghast too but have learnt to live with it) rather than around the back of the house near the small paddock. He also doesn't know why it didn't occur to builder to run a solid waste pipe from the sewage treatment plant down to the stream that marks the boundary edge of our paddock - since the effluent from the sewage treatment plant is 95% clean and can be discharged to the stream. Basically a soakaway isn't going to work for us

He will be sending a quote for a waste water pipe to the stream. Gave a ball park estimate rather than a quote (on my insistence as I want to know what to prepare for) of around £6K. For a more deluxe solution involving relocating my sewage treatment plant away from our back garden (which also involves digging up some extravagantly expensive patio which will need relaying) that can be doubled at least.

He will send me a quote for both and the earliest the work can be scheduled is the end of January. In the interim I am paying out £135 (now on a contract which is cheaper) for the sewage treatment plant to be emptied every 10-14 days

I am buggered that I should have to foot the cost for the builders negligence. We will pay for the work initially but hope seek to recoup the cost legally

Got to fly now - taking dc to cinema

I will take a photo of what lies beneath the lid in good light tomorrow for anyone with a strong stomach

Ah ha, glad you have some answers and that now makes much more sense. Photos would be good then I will be able to tell you exactly what you have installed although I suspect if you have a contract with Klargester (rather than KEE services) then it will most likely be an RBC.

There are a lot of regs around discharge, most importantly the Water Rescources Act 1991. There are also building regs regarding distance between STP and inhabited buildings however these are fairly recent so it would depend on where your property was built and if the STP was built subsequent to this, then when.

Are you 100% sure that your STP only serves your property? A domestic plant is likely to be a 50 pop equivalent which should be more than adequately sized to treat the waste a single house produces. If so then you can apply for a discharge permit exemption from the EA as you will be discharging less than 5m3 per day to watercourse. If you are discharging to ground you will have a maximum discharge of 2m3 a day. Even if you have an exemption then you still need to follow DEFRA’s general binding rules (worth having a quick read of).

If you are swapping your discharge location/method you must must must seek an exemption certificate (or if more than 5m3 per day discharge) then a discharge license from the EA.

That should say discharge permit not discharge license

Hi SmokingGun - thank you for your continuing advice . Will do photos tomorrow morning.

STP only serves our property. We have two neighbours - the golf course on one side and a substantial older property on the other, both with their own pre-existing waste water solutions.

Our house was built 2 years ago - which is when STP and soakaway was put in. I suspect builder probably in contravention of building regs with regards distance of STP from house ...which kind of beggars belief that some NHBC official signed it off!

We will be discharging to a watercourse and it will be less than 5m3 per day so hopefully we should get the discharge permit exemption. Are those generally okay to get? (or can the EA be a pain about it?)