New Fosse Septique regulations etc

[finisterian]

We worried to death about the regulations and inspections as we had a fosse that discharged straight into the river - smelly and horrible and not explained by the agent who sold us the house  (another story for another day)

We needn't have worried! The French themselves don't have a clue what is going on with the rules here - everyone we asked at the mairie, SPANC etc told us something different (we are in Finistere, Brittany) The certificate of conformity only relates to what you have installed and not whether it works - the EPARCO compact system the soil test people suggested has now been banned because of its very poor performance, despite being in the regulations in force! What a fiasco!! they then suggested we had to fit a pump and a raised sand filter that then drained off into the river - at a cost of over 11k euros! and no guarantee it would work/not smell - and to cap it all, in 10-12 years we have to dig it all up again and start again when it silts up. - plus get charged a fortune to dispose of the foul gunk that gets taken out.

We opted to fit a waste treatment plant tested to the new european standardised regs - we were told by the SPANC we couldnt have a certificate of conformity as it isnt reckognised in France, but as the manufacturer gave a written guarantee for it producing water to an acceptable standard in France we thought "why not"? Especially after the mayor visited and had a long conversation with the bloke from the French distributors, who have now got to quote for one at the local school . . . .

so nobody would sign and give us permission, but it turns out no- one could stop us either (or wanted to) so we have one installed, its working fine with no smells whatsoever, the SPANC have visited and seemed really interested AND including installation for a 5 bed house to use as a bnb it came to a total of 7700 euros + vat at 5.5%

we are delighted, so just wanted to tell everybody! see www.klar-environnement.com for details, they do speak english - we are thinking of having "come and look at our new treatment plant" coffee mornings!!