Archie

Thanks for all your replies, they've been really helpful. Apologies for the delay in responding but we're back in the UK for work currently

I believe it is the case and it is something we'll need to face up to in the near future ... not really looking forward to it though

Thanks NickP, it hadn't occured to me that the soil type might have something to do with it. It's quite chalky here but there isn't much of it and is like concrete where it hasn't been cultivated. The prophet of doom that is my OH is convinced that the fosse is about to explode and won't be convinced that the grey water doesn't go into it!

Hi All This is my first post after spending a lot of my time reading the helpful comments here. Our house has a fosse septique (plastic so not ancient) and we assume the grey water goes to a soakaway as when we dug down to locate the fosse, the shower, basin and washer waste pipe went past the fosse. We have no idea where it goes to - my question is that if we use a lot of water eg washer, dishwasher, showers etc in a short space of time, will the soakaway drain more slowly? Thanks in anticipation A