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proximity of wastewater treatment to house - regulations

  • 21-05-2009 9:52pm
    #1
    mimihops
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 437 ✭✭


    hi all, hopefully someone here will be able to give me some help or point me in the right direction. i really need to find out if there's any regulations governing how close a village wastewater/sewage treatment plant with open agitation tanks can be located to a house? when you are building yourself there are very clear regulations on how far away your biocycle for example needs to be from your house, but where can I find info on the equivalent regulations for large village scale plants? any help at all would be much appreciated.


Comments

  • #2
    Poor Uncle Tom
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,547 ✭✭✭✭Poor Uncle Tom


    Try this but remember they are only recommendations.

    http://www.lga.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/Seperation_Distances_-_EPA_(21).pdf


  • #3
    Kashkai
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,399 ✭✭✭Kashkai


    mimihops wrote: »
    hi all, hopefully someone here will be able to give me some help or point me in the right direction. i really need to find out if there's any regulations governing how close a village wastewater/sewage treatment plant with open agitation tanks can be located to a house? when you are building yourself there are very clear regulations on how far away your biocycle for example needs to be from your house, but where can I find info on the equivalent regulations for large village scale plants? any help at all would be much appreciated.

    Water Services Section in the Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government drafts the regulations on items such as this, that a local authority must adhere to when planning a new wastewater treatment plant. Once these plants are built, then there is usually a sterillised area put in place around them within which no further building would be allowed. Phone teh DEHLG at (01) 888 2150 for info. If the civil servants don't know, ask to speak to one of the Senior Engineers who will know.


  • #4
    mimihops
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 437 ✭✭mimihops


    Thank you, I am going to try and get in contact with someone in the DEHLG as suggested today. They have a tendency to pass you from pillar to post. There surely has to be some definite regulations, so far I have only found EPA guidelines. I am in the situation of having being granted planning to extend an existing habitable house I have owned for years and now there is a sewage treatment plant being contsructed with open agitation tanks only 10 metres from the boundary and less than 20 from the kitchen door. The EPA guidelines say there should be a buffer zone and our house is within the buffer zone that they reccomend should never be built on. Its all very frustrating! Any more help or advice would be very very welcome and much appreciated. Thanks again!


  • #5
    Kashkai
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,399 ✭✭✭Kashkai


    PM sent with some contact details of Engineers who draft the regulations on the siting of Wastewater Treatment Plants


  • #6
    Graaaaa
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 69 ✭✭Graaaaa


    The EPA have Wastewater Treatment Manual for Small Communities, Business, Leisure Centres and Hotels. I can't find anything definitive in it for separation distances but it does refer back to the Treatment systems for Single Houses.
    Treament System for Single Houses gives a separation distance of 7m for septic tanks, prefabicated intermittent filters and mechanical aeration systems. This I have been told refers to systems open to the air and mostly out-dated systems. The likes of Biocylce you mentioned are closed systems with little odour in theory, so with a little help from the supplier/designer you should have a chance to get a relaxation on this. The other factor is noise - by providing planting as a sound baffle you should be able to reduce the affect of this too.
    If it's an open air aeration system, believe me you don't want to build too close to it, as communities grow they become overloaded and you can TASTE the odour from the air, put me off pints for weeks.

    -sorry, should have read the original OP better.
    If the 7m separation applies, then you can theoretically build right up to your boundary if they are 10m away on the other side. This doesn't sound quite right for a large system though.
    Surely they should have had a consultation process which included you before building this? The system designers are obliged to consider odour, noise, gas and pest nuisance for the system so somebody must know about the plant in detail.
    Maybe get on to your local TD and councillors and kick up a fuss to get a GRP (glass reinforced plastic) cover fitted on the tanks. You are surely entitled to develop your land whatever way you see fit and the plans for a treatment system shouldn't be based on the size of your existing house?


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