Septic Tank

[Nicky France]

I am sure ceptic tanks have already been "done to death" on this forum but I just wondered...

We have just bought a house in 56 and received an Etude du Sol as part of the contract.  This states in very technical french that the system we need will have to be placed partly in the back garden and then we need to go under the road to our piece of land at the front to install the drainage part etc etc etc.  I have several questions about this...

a) What is the situation with regard to taking any notice of this report.  We already have a septic tank which needs to be emptied every now and then but will we be forced to install a new system?

b)  It is all very well to tell us we need to use our bit of land at the front of the house but what if we only had the back garden???  How could we conform to their reccomendations then?

c)  Assuming normal usage for two people, how often will a ceptic tank of 5000 litres need to be emptied?  It sounds like an awful lot of poo!!

d)  Lastly, if we succesfully start renting part of the property as a gite will our sanitary situation be checked by anyone?

Many thanks,

Nicky.

[epinay]

I'm sure someone with detailed knowledge will reply, but I do know that new regulations for septic tanks are coming in sometime this year, 2005, and I think all septic tanks have to be updated in line with the new regulations.  It is causing a lot of concern among home owners with old septic tanks.

I don't think these regulations can be ignored, though who exactly will be checking up on you I don't know.

A word of caution if you are letting - have you ever experienced an overflowing septic tank flooding your downstairs?  Its really horrible and you don't know its going to happen until its already happened.

There are some septic tanks that supposedly don't need emptying - can't remember the name.  I'm sure if you do a search on septic tanks you will find lots of info, including about the new regulations

Epinay