Septic tanks/Small sewerage plants etc

[vicky]

Not at all veggie related....

We (4 houses) are thinking of buying our small treatment plant for sewerage off the council (basically we can save a LOT of money)

On the off chance that someone else has done this.....long shot.....

Looking for general advice on running the Klargester, the legal side of having 4 houses running the plant and on and other sewerage related advice....


...basically a poo post!

Thanks!

[Pootle]

Whereabouts are you Vicky? Hello from another Essex Girl (out of her natural environment here in Worcestershire!)

My Dad was a builder and has installed Klargesters before for a small development site - involved getting nearby residents to rebuild their victorian septic tanks - lovely job

Apart from emptying, they pretty much take care of themselves as far as I remember, so the main thing to do would be to see a solicitor to draw up a legal agreement regarding the responsibilities of the owners: ie: how costs for maintenance are to be divided up, who has responsibility to arrange emptying, whether you all pay an annual 'fee' etc. This is important because when you come to sell it would come up in the searches and any prospective purchaser would need to be bought into the scheme on the same basis as the existing owners. You would also need to be aware of your liabilities if it stops working and contaminates the surrounding area (this happened in the case of the victorian septic tanks I spoke of before - there was a big bill for cleaning up the adjacent farm land) and you also have liabilities for the content of what gets into the local watercourse. Your council/local water company should be able to provide you with details of these.

I would also an independent inspection before signing any deal with the council to ensure that there are no underlying issues before you take it on.

Good Luck!

[Alison]

Klargesters are pretty good units, have used them to treat small housing estates etc. You only need to look at them every few months which is always a bonus although they can be a pain to set up at times (not insummountable though). PM me what model etc you're looking at getting and I may be able to give you a bit more information.