All septic tanks and most sewage treatment plants must discharge to ground water via a drainage field, to adhere to the current regulations of the “General Binding Rules”. The only exception is for sewage treatment plant owners living near to a watercourse such as a river or stream, in which they can discharge into directly.
A drainage field is an underground system of perforated pipes and gravel which disperses and treats wastewater from a septic tank or sewage treatment plant. The discharged effluent seeps out through the pipe perforations into the gravel and soil. The soil acts as a biological filter using naturally occurring aerobic bacteria to remove harmful contaminants from the effluent before rejoining the natural water cycle.
A drainage field typically will need replacing every 20- 30 years, but with good regular maintenance like annual emptying for septic tanks and annual servicing and emptying for sewage treatment plants they can last another 10-20 years. I.H.S Systems Ltd. pride ourselves on the fact that we have customers with drainage fields installed by us, that have lasted over 30 years and are still going strong today.
