What system do You have?

Cesspool, Septic Tank or Treatment Plant?

A cesspool is a sealed underground storage tank that is designed to hold & retain the sewage from the property. It does not process or reduce the content in anyway so whatever goes in has to be pumped out - an average household of people will produce approx 150000ltres of waste per year. This is the equivelant to emptying a 18000ltr (4000gallon) cesspool over 8times each year.

A cesspool can be any shape or size, old ones are usually concrete, brick or steel - Nowadays fibreglass or reinforced plastic are usually used and have a minimum capacity of 18000ltres. They should be watertight to prevent leakage of sewage into the ground or more commonly the ingress of groundwater into the tank. This obviuosly can prove an expensive problem either way, should grounwater enter the tank you will be paying for this to be emptied aswell as you sewage which will cause the frequency of tank empties to be increased.

Under the Public Health Act 1936 it is an offence for a cesspool to either overflow or leak into surrounding ground, Local Authorities have the power to fine the owners of properties where this happens, in addition if pollution enters the watercourse The Environment Agency may take legal action under the Water Resources Act 1991. The penalty for this is upto £20000 and/or 3months imprisonment.

Septic Tanks

Unlike a cesspool, a septic tank has a soakaway (drainfield) system attached to it. In an ideal situation the system is totally gravity fed. When you pull the plug in the sink or flush the toilet, the contents run down the sewer pipes (drains) into the septic tank. The septic tank has a working height just at the bottom of the soakaway pipe (see diagram), so if you have just let out 2gallons of waste from your kitchen sink as it drops into the septic tank, 2gallons of partially treated sewage (final effluent) will be displaced out through the soak-away system.

The soak-away is basically a series of perferated pipes that allow the final effluent to be dispersed into the surrounding soil.

On average a septic tank will need emptying once a year.

A cesspool is a sealed underground storage tank that is designed to hold & retain the sewage from the property. It does not process or reduce the content in anyway so whatever goes in has to be pumped out - an average household of people will produce approx 150000ltres of waste per year. This is the equivelant to emptying a 18000ltr (4000gallon) cesspool over 8times each year.

A cesspool can be any shape or size, old ones are usually concrete, brick or steel - Nowadays fibreglass or reinforced plastic are usually used and have a minimum capacity of 18000ltres. They should be watertight to prevent leakage of sewage into the ground or more commonly the ingress of groundwater into the tank. This obviuosly can prove an expensive problem either way, should grounwater enter the tank you will be paying for this to be emptied aswell as you sewage which will cause the frequency of tank empties to be increased.

Under the Public Health Act 1936 it is an offence for a cesspool to either overflow or leak into surrounding ground, Local Authorities have the power to fine the owners of properties where this happens, in addition if pollution enters the watercourse The Environment Agency may take legal action under the Water Resources Act 1991. The penalty for this is upto £20000 and/or 3months imprisonment.

Tratment Plant