Household Sewerage into Land

farmer2018

Hi All, my neighbours sewerage is flowing from his house into a trench in my land across the road. His house is old. How would I go about confirming that there is household waste water in the trench. I don't want to stay anything without being sure and I don't want to start fighting. Please advise? Would I call the council.

The Continental Op

If there is a septic tank or other form of treatment is should be registered https://www.protectourwater.ie/default.aspx

farmer2018

The Continental Op wrote: »

If there is a septic tank or other form of treatment is should be registered https://www.protectourwater.ie/default.aspx

Is there any way of searching?

Jb1989

farmer2018 wrote: »

Is there any way of searching?

Doesn't look to be unless you pay the 50 euro.

wrangler

farmer2018 wrote: »

Hi All, my neighbours sewerage is flowing from his house into a trench in my land across the road. His house is old. How would I go about confirming that there is household waste water in the trench. I don't want to stay anything without being sure and I don't want to start fighting. Please advise? Would I call the council.

Tell him it's not on to have dirty water flowing on to your land, if he ignores you, report to the council

Sacrolyte

How is it crossing the road. I presume there’s a pipe so why not just block it.

The Continental Op

Its the council that do the checking. According to the guy that empties my septic tank they checked a couple of the nearest septic tanks to the council offices when the regulations came in and not a lot since. There doesn't seem to be any active enforcement but the normal for the council.

If you call the council they should check their register but won't tell you (GDPR) and should go and check themselves. Trouble is once you report it the council may check anyway.

Could be a septic tank that needs emptying or someones kitchen waste - all to many old cottages dumped kitchen waste into the nearest ditch.

mickdw

Its probably flowing into a drain on his land and flowing through to yours then.
Now alot you can do drainage wise vut if he you is inspected, a new tank and percolation area will be needed.

divillybit

You could get ammonia test strips and check that way but if your neighbours is reasonable to deal with then raise your concerns with them and ask for them to desludge it. There would be local contractors who would empty it and bring the sludge to a waste water treatment plant that will take sludge.

Legally septic tanks must discharge the effluent to ground water via a percolation area. If its discharging to a surface water it must be licensed which its unlikely to be. Licencing surface water discharges is for your local authority so if your neighbour doesn't agree to empty the tank the next step may be to engage with the local authority. With Covid they probably aren't going to come out and inspect it. I would download an app called see it say it, and you can upload pictures of the discharge as well as the exact location. The council will have to investigate it then as the epa will see the issue being raised and the council will have to show they've done something...

cocoman

Is there a sewage smell near you drain or a grey scum? Have a look on a dry day and see if there's anything flowing into it from house across the road. A dye test would confirm but you would have to talk to the neighbour about doing that.

If you call the council and register a complaint they would investigate and may serve a notice on the offender specifing works to be done to rectify any problem. Could be costly on the neighbour depending on what works have to be done.

TooOldBoots

Maybe the soak way for his house has always been in your field. It may be a case where the soak way has been damaged by heavy machinery on you side, or by you opening or interfering with the drain.
It could be a case where you are liable to rectify it.
Sounds mad but the law is strange, proceed with caution.

farmer2018

TooOldBoots wrote: »

Maybe the soak way for his house has always been in your field. It may be a case where the soak way has been damaged by heavy machinery on you side, or by you opening or interfering with the drain.
It could be a case where you are liable to rectify it.
Sounds mad but the law is strange, proceed with caution.

Well he did ask me to clean the trench in question a few years ago. Soon after I had a digger in the place so I cleaned it anyway. Maybe it's just the waste water. But is that allowed?

farmer2018

mickdw wrote: »

Its probably flowing into a drain on his land and flowing through to yours then.
Now alot you can do drainage wise vut if he you is inspected, a new tank and percolation area will be needed.

It's not no

memorystick

I’m in the same situation. Sister in laws sink and waste water is coming out underneath a piped drain at my entrance. It smells in the summer. We don’t get on and am waiting for the right opportunity to get her to sort it.

farmer2018

memorystick wrote: »

I’m in the same situation. Sister in laws sink and waste water is coming out underneath a piped drain at my entrance. It smells in the summer. We don’t get on and am waiting for the right opportunity to get her to sort it.

Yes but the question is that allowed legally? Should that be going into a tank.

wrangler

memorystick wrote: »

I’m in the same situation. Sister in laws sink and waste water is coming out underneath a piped drain at my entrance. It smells in the summer. We don’t get on and am waiting for the right opportunity to get her to sort it.

Motorway builders had a piece of my land for a temporary road while building the motorway. when I got the land back a neighbour had a pipe put through the ditch. I tipped a load of clay on it and said nothing. We've heavy soil so I doubt if it's still flowing, I'm sure they had to put down a proper soakage area

curiousinvestor

I have a neighbour who has mains water full bore flowing across a corner of one of my fields.
His mains is leaking and into an old land drain and then into my place. ( i found the clay pipe) Its downhill so v little I can do.
I've had irish water and the council out. They acknowledge there is a leak. You can see it flowing across the field. And have done nothing at all. I have been told that I have no right at all to do anything about it.
They have zero interest in helping the situation.
I'm so disgusted that they care so little.
I know the local Councillor ,I may as well ask the local sheep dog.
I had an old mains connection at that corner. He had also taken my connection at the main road. I got that sorted. I have ever seen this man let alone spoken to him. I was walking the fences one day and saw he started a fire at his boundary and had burnt my fencing , so nout stopping cattle walking in to his place .
I could go on

Birdnuts

farmer2018 wrote: »

Hi All, my neighbours sewerage is flowing from his house into a trench in my land across the road. His house is old. How would I go about confirming that there is household waste water in the trench. I don't want to stay anything without being sure and I don't want to start fighting. Please advise? Would I call the council.

It could well be the case that this house is still operating with a simple cess pit. It might sound like something from medieval London but I know of several old timers still living in such properties.

Suckler

Birdnuts wrote: »

It could well be the case that this house is still operating with a simple cess pit. It might sound like something from medieval London but I know of several old timers still living in such properties.

This is true for more places than you'd think; They call it a septic tank but its just a pit with an overflow.

Bass Reeves

farmer2018 wrote: »

. Maybe it's just the waste water. But is that allowed?

No it is not. It's could be either. Historically some cottages and old houses only drained septic tanks and waste water into the nearest drain or ditch. It should have been rectified years ago.

I imagine if it there that long and the owner has done nothing about it they will not sort it out unless the council forces them. If it black/ grey scum then it's obviously some sort of waste discharge from somewhere.
You can contact him and tell him what you see and give them a month to sort it or you can go to the council now. If the drain is hitting a stream/ river fairly fast you could raise concerns about a possibility of a fish kill

farmer2018

I just checked there is a drain coming from underneath the road into my place. It's flooded my place. I don't know is it just rain water from around his house or what.

If it is should he be paying me money towards putting a proper rain water system in place on my side?

The problem is with my land it is right on a river and all neighbouring drains are flowing into my drains to get to the river.

Bass Reeves

farmer2018 wrote: »

I just checked there is a drain coming from underneath the road into my place. It's flooded my place. I don't know is it just rain water from around his house or what.

If it is should he be paying me money towards putting a proper rain water system in place on my side?

The problem is with my land it is right on a river and all neighbouring drains are flowing into my drains to get to the river.

Not if it's only rainwater. You cannot stop a flow of water

The Continental Op

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Not if it's only rainwater. You cannot stop a flow of water

Don't I know it :rolleyes: My house and garden are below the level of the road with a large water catchment area and the council dig out drainage channels into my garden.

farmer2018

Bass Reeves wrote: »

No it is not. It's could be either. Historically some cottages and old houses only drained septic tanks and waste water into the nearest drain or ditch. It should have been rectified years ago.

I imagine if it there that long and the owner has done nothing about it they will not sort it out unless the council forces them. If it black/ grey scum then it's obviously some sort of waste discharge from somewhere.
You can contact him and tell him what you see and give them a month to sort it or you can go to the council now. If the drain is hitting a stream/ river fairly fast you could raise concerns about a possibility of a fish kill

There is a black scum with loads of grass growing. It flowing into a drain in my field.
I'd imagen its ground water mixed with waste water flowing into the land drain. Wasn't that the way with alot of rural houses they have a water over flow out into the land.

Bass Reeves

farmer2018 wrote: »

There is a black scum with loads of grass growing. It flowing into a drain in my field.
I'd imagen its ground water mixed with waste water flowing into the land drain. Wasn't that the way with alot of rural houses they have a water over flow out into the land.

In that case it is either waste water from washing machine, some lads redirect this into a soakaways or waste water from septic tank or its badly working soakaway. It illegal.

Your options notify him to rectify him maybe 30 days. IMO then you can block it the outflow on health grounds. You may be entitled to do it straight away. Another option is contact Co Council or local fisheries board.

farmer2018

Bass Reeves wrote: »

In that case it is either waste water from washing machine, some lads redirect this into a soakaways or waste water from septic tank or its badly working soakaway. It illegal.

Your options notify him to rectify him maybe 30 days. IMO then you can block it the outflow on health grounds. You may be entitled to do it straight away. Another option is contact Co Council or local fisheries board.

He will more than likely deny it anyway that's its wastewater. What do I do then..

Bass Reeves

farmer2018 wrote: »

He will more than likely deny it anyway that's its wastewater. What do I do then..

Load of topsoil against the outlet

farmer2018

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Load of topsoil against the outlet

It will get messy then. The best thing to prove it is definitely wastewater is probably carry out a test.

Bass Reeves

farmer2018 wrote: »

It will get messy then. The best thing to prove it is definitely wastewater is probably carry out a test.

Fishers board or co council. If you contact either exaggeration of the problem helps. They may be willing to test the sample of you being it in

Bitten & Hisses

farmer2018 wrote: »

I just checked there is a drain coming from underneath the road into my place. It's flooded my place. I don't know is it just rain water from around his house or what.

If it is should he be paying me money towards putting a proper rain water system in place on my side?

The problem is with my land it is right on a river and all neighbouring drains are flowing into my drains to get to the river.

We've been in the same situation here (pipe under the road originating when the 2 farms were owned by the same person a million years ago) and it caused enormous friction between previous generations.
In the end, I just diverted the flow into an open drain along my side of the boundary which flows into the river. The open drain is there and is needed anyway and I figured the relevant authorities could trace any pollution back to source if they want to.

farmer2018

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

We've been in the same situation here (pipe under the road originating when the 2 farms were owned by the same person a million years ago) and it caused enormous friction between previous generations.
In the end, I just diverted the flow into an open drain along my side of the boundary which flows into the river. The open drain is there and is needed anyway and I figured the relevant authorities could trace any pollution back to source if they want to.

I think this could be the same situation in my case because that's the last thing I want to do is fall out with my neighbour.

farmer2018

Cleaned trench in question there was real black mud in the bottom like oil.

Say my name

farmer2018 wrote: »

Cleaned trech in question there was real black mud in the bottom like oil.

That's from grey water from the washing machine.

farmer2018

Say my name wrote: »

That's from grey water from the washing machine.

Waste water obviously?

K.G.

From what i ve seen over the years i dont think half the septic tanks in the country are working properly. And by half i m not just using a figure of speech i literally mean thereare more tanks not working properly than those that are working right

farmer2018

K.G. wrote: »

From what i ve seen over the years i dont think half the septic tanks in the country are working properly. And by half i m not just using a figure of speech i literally mean thereare more tanks not working properly than those that are working right

I'd say you're spot on K.G

Hard Knocks

K.G. wrote: »

From what i ve seen over the years i dont think half the septic tanks in the country are working properly. And by half i m not just using a figure of speech i literally mean thereare more tanks not working properly than those that are working right

All new builds around here need treatment systems with sand polish pit

DBK1

K.G. wrote: »

From what i ve seen over the years i dont think half the septic tanks in the country are working properly. And by half i m not just using a figure of speech i literally mean thereare more tanks not working properly than those that are working right

I’d say you’re even being generous by having it anywhere close to half. If you take out the houses built in the last 6 or 8 years I’d be very surprised if there was any more than 20% of septic tanks fit for purpose.

Suckler

K.G. wrote: »

From what i ve seen over the years i dont think half the septic tanks in the country are working properly. And by half i m not just using a figure of speech i literally mean thereare more tanks not working properly than those that are working right

DBK1 wrote: »

I’d say you’re even being generous by having it anywhere close to half. If you take out the houses built in the last 6 or 8 years I’d be very surprised if there was any more than 20% of septic tanks fit for purpose.

In my my experience the newer builds are better but not built with enough capacity; Houses shown as 3 or 4 bed with "study" & "playrooms" etc. in reality they were extra bedrooms.

Older house's had a tank, they weren't proper septic tanks.

wrangler

Suckler wrote: »

In my my experience the newer builds are better but not built with enough capacity; Houses shown as 3 or 4 bed with "study" & "playrooms" etc. in reality they were extra bedrooms.

Older house's had a tank, they weren't proper septic tanks.

There's five houses in a line as tight as they could be, each house with only twice the width of a car each side of the house, each site has a septic tank and a well. How they don't contaminate each other I don't know.
A house went up for sale on the other side of the road and the sale was stopped because of ecoli in the well, they tried to say my tenants were careless with slurry spreading...... I tell you guys you should never let anyone build near your farm

Bass Reeves

Biggest issues with septic tanks is size. Most are build too small traditionally. Lots of people either never put in an internal wall and the hole in the middle of the internal wall. First time the system backed up the internal wall got the belt of a sledge. Very few are emptied any way regularly.

Percolation area's were not build properly either. Round stone was often not used. pipe at T joint was not level sending all the material down to one side of percolation area. You need to put straw on top of the percolation stone to stop topsoil clogging it.

Finally if you ever get the tank desludged fill it of water straight away as it stops the percolation area from drying out.

lakill Farm

A lot of them treatment plans aren't working correctly either.


Blown pumps, bad percolation area and not de-sludge as per recommendations

K.G. wrote: »

From what i ve seen over the years i dont think half the septic tanks in the country are working properly. And by half i m not just using a figure of speech i literally mean thereare more tanks not working properly than those that are working right

TooOldBoots

One off hosing is a disaster wrt septic tanks. They eventually breakdown.
Numerous people at fault, the ones selling sites/road frontage from the farm. Houses for the Children on the land.
Then the Councils themselves for poor planning. The Government for not securing and zoning land adjacent to cities towns and villages

Bass Reeves

TooOldBoots wrote: »

One off hosing is a disaster wrt septic tanks. They eventually breakdown.
Numerous people at fault, the ones selling sites/road frontage from the farm. Houses for the Children on the land.
Then the Councils themselves for poor planning. The Government for not securing and zoning land adjacent to cities towns and villages

There is nothing wrong with septic tanks if lads put them in properly. Problem.is lads taking shortcuts. Biggest problem is size. Too many are too small.

When I was doing up the old farm house I replaced the old septic tank. I doubled the size of it. Lad who was doing it for me was asking me why so big. I explained how they worked. He had inherited a house with a tank that was problematic and he did the same after.

memorystick

My neighbour pumping watery slurry out of his tank and onto the road and then into my drain!

Wildly Boaring

Have dealt with this s lot.

I would put a call into the environmental section of your local authority.

They are generally very helpful and will come out to inspect. (not sure during covid I'm afraid)

I would follow that call with a letter. Councils respond well to letters.

Generally what happens is they inspect your side. If they reckon it's ww they will inspect the other side.

Probably send a letter to the homeowner. It quotes that they carried out an inspection of the tank and states that. It will be followed by an enforcement notice if not sorted.