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Replacement sewage system on a tiny site?

  • 03-04-2020 9:08pm
    #1
    CubicleDweller
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 136 ✭✭


    We're in the process of buying a holiday home - a small wooden chalet on a very small plot near the coast. The chalet needs rebuilding and has an existing septic tank that may not be working - the chalet has not been used in some years.

    The plot is very small - only about 360 square meters. The chalet is about 64 square meters and will be roughly the same when we rebuild it. And it's a holiday home, so will only be used for part of the year. We'd like to do this by the book, with planning permission to demolish and rebuild the chalet. The council will probably want a new, more compliant waste water system.

    I've looked at a biocycle or kingspan klargester; in the UK we'd be fine with either of those and a soakaway, it seems; but in Ireland you need a polishing filter rather than a soakaway. The plot is not big enough to accommodate the filter and the chalet while keeping the required separation between biocycle, filter, boundaries and dwelling.

    I've been told that when replacing or upgrading an existing installation, permission may be obtained without keeping the required separation ; it's enough to do "the best that can be done in the space available".

    Does anyone have experience of this? Have you been granted (or refused) permission for a replacement waste water treatment system on a plot that's too small to properly comply with current regulations?

    The alternative is to just refurbish the existing septic tank and whatever old percolation area is there as best we can. That's likely to be worse for the environment than any new system we install, so we're hoping the council would see the sense of granting permission for the improved system.

    Has anyone got any useful advice or suggestions? Anything constructive will be appreciated!


Comments

  • #2
    BryanF
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators Posts: 10,146 Mod ✭✭✭✭BryanF


    Talk to Neighbours

    Complying with current regs with a septic tank generally requires min half acre and not with sandy conditions


  • #3
    CubicleDweller
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 136 ✭✭CubicleDweller


    Thanks, BryanF. Have already spoken to some of the neighbours. Most of the nearby chalets were built in the 70s and are still using old septic tanks. Some have been refurbished recently but nobody has a biocycle or similar, as far as I know. Most of the plots are bigger, so they can have percolation areas that are reasonably large. Nobody has tried to get planning for an upgrade like ours.


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