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I know this is probably done to death, but a lot of the posts I came across were older. I’m planning the drains for our new build (4 bed), did a percolation test at the weekend and took 7 hrs to drain away, so looking at treatment plants. Kind of narrowed it down to Bio-Pure, WPL, Conder but I do keep coming back to Biorock for several reasons. Any up to date opinions on the above? I do like the fact the Bio rock is electric free, I’m more than capable and happy to install and if I can commission, service it myself down the line even better. Also how are people finding the desludging intervals? On our own farmland so no issues with siting, probably going to be approx 35m from the house.

Hi everyone, I’ve been reading a few threads on here in search of potential solutions and thought it might be wise to post my issue in the hope that someone may have some advice. We moved house about 8 months ago (Angus, Scotland), to a rural barn conversion with a few other properties around. We have a septic tank and foolishly didn’t have a tank inspection before buying. We just checked it was registered with SEPA and that soakaway which is in a neighboring field is in the deeds. Well it turns out the soakaway is ruined - the field’s owners alerted that something didn’t right about a month ago. We had the tank emptied and have a collapsed baffle. At first we thought we were looking at replacing the tank and soakaway which would be bad enough, but it turns out there are further issues. Our deeds only specify the corner of field where our current soakaway is located, and this is far too saturated to reuse (we’ve been advised that even a mound would be likely to fail), and the field’s owners won’t permit us to use another part of the field. Sadly our own garden is too small to fit a soakaway, especially as it is bounded by a road, so taking of the distance it has to be from the house and boundaries leaves about only a meter wide! So we are looking into a couple of options; 1: to upgrade to a sewage treatment plant and drain to a ditch. The catch being the closest ditch is about 150 meters away and would involve pumping up a slight incline. The other is 250 meters, mostly down a slight slope, but there is a rise of trees in the way too. The neighbours who own the soakaway field also own the woods beyond and are happy for us to drain to a ditch there, but we don’t actually know of any (they’re not on google maps). Hopefully over the holidays we can meet with them to see if they know of any, and assess how feasible it is. They have also mentioned the possibility of creating new drainage ditches. 2: there is another neighbour behind us (who we share a driveway with) who owns another couple of fields. We are thinking we could offer to add them to our treatment plant (it would still be the same size) for free if it means placing the soakaway in their field. The soakaway would need to be larger of course, but it beats having having a house with no sewage which is becoming a serious concern! Luckily, there are no issues in the house yet and water is still draining away (I’ve watched it through the inspection hole after a bath!), but we’ve been told it’s only a matter of time until things back up. So I’m after any advice! I was wondering if anyone has experience of draining to a ditch that is a similar distance away and/or maybe needs pumping uphill. Does it work, what we’re the install costs, what are the running costs, what happens if the pump fails? Has anyone gone through the process of getting approval from SEPA to drain to a any hints? Also, does anyone share a treatment plant/nothing I would be aware of? We are also open to any other creative solutions, as ultimately we need to figure something out! Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help:)

Our site has no mains drainage and the existing bungalow has an old septic tank that will need to be dug out and removed. Are there any particular requirements around this? I have no idea how old it is or of what construction, other than it's possibly in the region of 40 years old and has no electrics or pumps involved.