" Pooh Sticks"

[Stevekane]

That is no different to a system connected to the main drain, grey and rain water should be kept seperate so no grey ends up in a river and no rain fills the main sewer.

But lots of houses are, its why the sewerage company offer you a discount if you have all your surface water running off to soakaways,,,I think failure on the part of water companies to upgrade their systems to cope with the increase in buildings might be part of the problem.

 

[Spectric]

Lets not also forget the huge amount of new houses that are laying waste to our countryside and again the developers are not paying to upgrade local services, just connecting to existing services which in some areas are at breaking point.

 

[niall Y]

One farmhouse, nearby, that I've done a fair amount of work to, had no real provision for dealing with the water from off the roof. The building had been enlarged in the 1850's and had large overhanging eaves. There had been no provision made for guttering of any sort. but mercifully the main entrance was at the gable end so you didn't get soaked entering, or exiting the property. Using the side door, however did pose a problem which was overcome by fixing a small section of guttering, leading up to it

 

[Steve Medlock]

Unless its a combined sewer, which the vast majority are....

I don't know what the rest of the country is like but there are hardly any combined sewers left in the South East. There was a huge programme by southern Water and its agencies to dual the sewerage systems back in maybe the 70s (forget the date!). Where you have permeable strata, soakaways are the norm. Clay soils though require a separate surface water sewerage system.

 

[Cozzer]

Always said that the best thing I bought when I moved house 20odd years ago was a set of drain rods....

 

[Jones]

Lets not also forget the huge amount of new houses that are laying waste to our countryside and again the developers are not paying to upgrade local services, just connecting to existing services which in some areas are at breaking point.

New water and sewage connections have a large infrastructure charge added . It's over £1000 round here for water.

 

[Richard_C]

Vaguely relevant for those discussing soakaways and suchlike is your water charges. Our bill, and I'm sure most, is split into a supply bit and sewerage bit. I've lived here 25 years and only last year realised that the 'output' charge included groundwater. All my gutters etc. go to soakaways. I filled in a detailed* but simple online form and my charges are now reduced by about £40 a year. Not massive but worth asking for. What's more, the rules allow you to back-claim for up to 6 past years if you have occupied the property that long. I now have a £240 credit sitting on my water account (they would have sent me the ££ but I will just run it off against my 6 monthly bill). It might not be the same in all regions but worth a look.

* the rules say ALL groundwater must go elsewhere from the drains, so they ask things like do you have a patio or hard driveway, where does that drain, do you have water butts, where do they overflow to etc. Thorough but clear and fair. They reserve the right to come and have a look but in my case didn't.

 

[cerro]

Sorry to say this, but your system is illegal (EU directive) if it takes your surface water into the Septic Tank, should be kept totally separate.

How is your Septic tank filtered, drainage field or soakaway? do you have a pre-filter or grease trap?

Sorry to say this but we are not in the EU