Treatment plant, rainwater.

[Russell griffiths]

Asking for a friend of mine who has a bit of a problem to start looking into

he has a property with 3 houses on it and all toilets exit the property’s and join 1 pipe, this pipe travels down his yard and into his septic system,

he would like to change his septic system for a more modern system to come up to current standards. 

Now the problem, as this pipe travels down his yard it picks up the surface water and roof water of all his yard and buildings, literally hundreds of square m of rain runoff joining this pipe. 

Trying to separate out the rain water would involve running 3-400m of new pipe and digging up thousands of pounds worth of concrete drive way to install it, is there a system that will cope with a large influx of rainwater into the treatment plant. 

Cheers russ. 

[ToughButterCup]

Is the current system working OK? If so, leave as is. If not, move house(s).

Rain and foul water must not mix under the current regulations. Maybe that mixture is what's causing the current system not to work well?

[Russell griffiths]

System works well, my mate is concerned about getting a visit and him not complying with new regs coming into force. 

[PeterW]

Leave it alone. Regs only come into force if you change it or sell the property. 

[nod]

1 minute ago, Russell griffiths said:

System works well, my mate is concerned about getting a visit and him not complying with new regs coming into force. 

I’ve been reading about new regs 

Can they really make you rip you S tank out and replace with a treatment plant 

Or is it more that it will be flagged up when you try to sell 

[nod]

1 minute ago, PeterW said:

Leave it alone. Regs only come into force if you change it or sell the property. 

Ha ha 

answered my question while I was typing 

[scottishjohn]

2 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

that will cope with a large influx of rainwater into the treatment plant. 

 a bigger one .LOL

 fit an above ground rainwater diverting plumbing to a rainwater tank  for garden --then to a soakaway 

Edited October 13, 2019 by scottishjohn

[Mr Punter]

Can't he collect the surface water in ACO type drainage and direct it to a soakaway or ditch?  No need to rip up the yard, just a neat cut.  It is pretty obvious why we need to keep rainwater and sewage separate where possible.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Mr Punter
typo / autocorrect

[scottishjohn]

3 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

Can't he collect the surface water in ACO type drainage and direct it to a soakaway or ditch?  No need to rip up the year, just a neat cut.  It is pretty obvious why we need to keep rainwater and sewage separate where possible.

possibly if the concrete is thick enough accept 6"- deep cuts without breaking up --might just be a pinted on concrete yard -- like 3-4"

maybe all houses not the same level ?

Edited October 13, 2019 by scottishjohn

[ProDave]

Where does it go AFTER the septic tank?

 

In the immediate future (Jan 2020) it is only septic tanks discharging to a watercourse that must be updated.  If they discharge to an infiltration field there is currently no need to change anything.

 

But I know several septic tanks here discharging to a watercourse and I don't see any sign of anyone preparing to upgrade to a treatment plant in the next few months.

[Russell griffiths]

1 hour ago, Mr Punter said:

Can't he collect the surface water in ACO type drainage and direct it to a soakaway or ditch?  No need to rip up the yard, just a neat cut.  It is pretty obvious why we need to keep rainwater and sewage separate where possible.

Not really, imagine a 200 year old farm with 20 sheds all with rainwater pipes all just disappearing into the concrete, no idea where any of them go apart from the fact that when it rains the outlet pipe discharges like a fireman’s hose, so we know that’s his rainwater also coming into this old system 

there isn’t actually a tank of any description, just a series of pits all linked with pipes taking the water off the top and allowing the sludge to sink.