Soakaways

Soakaways

A septic tank and drainage field/soakaway isn't the best solution for every property. It's important that when considering soakaway construction, you don't construct it too close to existing boundaries, buildings or roads. AA Biotech will able to help you assess your property and, if necessary, recommend suitable alternatives - such as a self-contained sewage treatment plant.

For Soakaway installions and repairs www.the-drain-shop.co.uk

The length of the soakaway drains is determined by the number of bedrooms in the property and the porosity of the soil. New regulations state that for any house up to and including 3 bedrooms, the minimum size sewage system that can be installed is for 5 persons, with one extra person added for each extra bedrooms.

The porosity can only be determined by a percolation test which measures the time it takes for water to drop 1mm in the percolation test hole. From this time, known as a V Value, the length of drain required can be calculated.


Soakaways are required to be a minimum of:
10m from a watercourse or ditch
50m from water abstraction points
15m from any building, and sufficiently distant from any other soakaway, including roof water.
2 metres from a boundary

Other Regulations:
The soakaway or drainfield area should be downslope of groundwater sources
No water supply pipes or underground services should be within the soakaway area
No access roads, driveways or paved areas should be within the soakaway areas. This includes fields with tractors and agricultural vehicular traffic.
The water table or bedrock must not, at any time, be within 1.2 metres of the bottom of the soakaway trench
No rainwater must be allowed to enter the system - you might consider 'Rainwater Harvesting' instead.

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