All Party Parliamentary Group warned septic tanks pollute the environment
An all party group of politicians has been warned by a drainage expert from British Water that septic tanks pose a pollution and a health and safety risk because they are less than 50% efficient.
Mike Norton, who is the chairman of the Package Treatment Plant Focus Group of the Wastewater Engineering Section at British Water, was invited to give a presentation to the APPG Sewers and Sewerage Meeting at the Houses of Parliament.
He told the group that was chaired by MP Paddy Tipping that septic tanks are dangerous because they are buried in the ground and that people only discover there has been serious pollution when it is too late and the ground is flooded.
Mike Norton told the APPG that septic tank failures lead to groundwater contamination, not as a point source but as diffuse pollution, which is against the law under the Water Framework Directive.
“When they fail, which they often do” he said, “they hide a really dangerous health and safety issue because by the time anyone notices, it’s too late and the pollution is in the ground and will have seeped into water courses.”
“The net result is pollution,” he added. “Even though people quote septic tanks as being more environmentally friendly because they don’t use any energy, the reality is they are anything but environmentally friendly because they pollute our future drinking water supplies.”
The alternative, which is packaged treatment plants, he told the group, is a modern solution. They are over 90% efficient compared with between 20% and 50% for septic tanks. They also now have to comply with European Standard BSEN 12566 Part 3 which means they have to pass a controlled test for 38 weeks and comply with other essential requirements.
“We have to work to get rid of new septic tanks,” he added, “this level of pollution is unacceptable when it is the environment and people’s health that are at risk.”
Mike Norton chairs the Package Treatment Plant Focus Group at British Water, which has an active membership of 18 companies. They work to raise standards in the industry and to lobby for changes in legislation to make the industry more responsible and more environmentally efficient.
The Group recently brought out a code of practice, called Flows and Loads--free to download from the British Water website, www.britishwater.co.uk-- which helps designers, contractors and clients to work out the correct capabilities for different applications.
