Percolation Test in Cork

landel

Sorry if this has been done to death but I've looked through previous posts and can't get a definitive answer.

We had a county council authorised site suitability assessor come out to our site (only plot available to us on parents land) and he says that the ground is so bad that there's no point even doing a percolation test. He dug the holes etc and did a soak test overnight and basically there's very little/no drainage so he says it's pointless even doing the test.

Is there anything at all that we can do to make this plot of land suitable to build a house on. We'd be willing to dig it out and replace with better soil etc even if that's expensive but just need to know if there's anything that can be done before we give up on it.

Thanks very much for you help.

sydthebeat

landel wrote: »

Sorry if this has been done to death but I've looked through previous posts and can't get a definitive answer.

We had a county council authorised site suitability assessor come out to our site (only plot available to us on parents land) and he says that the ground is so bad that there's no point even doing a percolation test. He dug the holes etc and did a soak test overnight and basically there's very little/no drainage so he says it's pointless even doing the test.

Is there anything at all that we can do to make this plot of land suitable to build a house on. We'd be willing to dig it out and replace with better soil etc even if that's expensive but just need to know if there's anything that can be done before we give up on it.

Thanks very much for you help.

could he not offer some acceptable suggestions??

firstly id like to reiterate that not ever pice of land is suitable for housing. howveer, in some cases where its the only landholding, there are remedial measures that MAY be acceptable.

If the ground levels are low, they may be built up. I know of one person who built up a 4 acre field by 1.2 m over about 4 years. his initial plannig was refused due to to no percolation and a high water table, hes currently living in his newly build house.

If there is no percolation but the water table is low, it may be possible to dig out an area and replace the soil with good quality soil.... possibly to a depth of 1.5 m. Both these suggestion would require a substantial treatment system and designed percolation area

if there is a high water table, no percolation and the land is already high lying... i am unaware of remedial measures which can be applied

ECO_Mental

I wouldn't give up just yet, the new site suitability assessment allows for different types of treatment. It mightn't be suitable for a septic tank but there are other engineering solutions out there that might suit the site. It might be worth your while calling another assessor to get his opinion.

atech

Agree with the rest of your post Syd, however just to note that I don't think the following solution is allowed under the EPA code of practice:

sydthebeat wrote: »

If there is no percolation but the water table is low, it may be possible to dig out an area and replace the soil with good quality soil.... possibly to a depth of 1.5 m.

In section 6.5, it states that if the site has a T value greater than 90 then site improvement works will not be acceptable.

Unfortunately I think the OP's site sounds like it's T value was going to be above 90 (i.e. it was taking over 5 hours for the water to drop 100mm) so I don't think their assessor would have had any other option but to declare the site unsuitable for wastewater discharge to subsoil.

landel

Thanks for your replies.

@ sydthebeat - I asked him whether we could dig out the site and replace with good quality soil. He said that this would create what's known as a 'bathtub' effect i.e. the newly inserted soil would soak waste water for a time but eventually it would fill up as there was nowhere for it to go underneath. He didn't mention anything about a water table.

@ ECO_Mental - We called another assessor in the area and they seemed to agree with our assessor. They said our guy was reputable and that there was nothing that could be done.

@ atech - Yes it is my understanding that the drainage is so bad that the T value would be above 90 and therefore rule out any kind of treatment system.

Jimbo

Generally when the T valuue is over 90 there isn't much that can be done.
The only other possibility is to apply for a discharge licence to a nearby stream but most planning authorities wont even consider one for a one-off house.