If your treatment plant or septic tank discharges to the ground rather than a watercourse, it needs a properly designed drainage field, commonly called a soakaway, to disperse the treated effluent safely.
We design and install these to current British Standards, whether as part of a new system or as a standalone fix for a failing one.
Our fully certified and insured team can be on site within 24 hours for a free quote and survey.
We predominantly cover Mid and North Wales, Shropshire, Cheshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and the Midlands.
We install drainage fields as part of a new sewage treatment plant or septic tank installation, and as a standalone replacement where an existing field has failed but the tank or plant itself is fine. Replacing just the field, where possible, is usually more cost-effective than replacing the whole system.
In everyday language, “soakaway” gets used for both rainwater drainage and sewage effluent dispersal, but they’re not the same thing. A traditional soakaway is designed for clean rainwater. For sewage effluent from a septic tank or treatment plant, what’s actually required is a drainage field (also called an infiltration system). This a series of perforated pipes laid in trenches, built to British Standard BS 6297, allowing effluent to disperse and be further treated as it filters through the ground. You can’t use a standard rainwater soakaway, a well or a borehole for this.
We’ll use whichever term you’re familiar with, but what we design and install is a proper drainage field, built to the standard that’s actually required for sewage effluent.
Not technically. A soakaway is designed for rainwater, while a drainage field (or infiltration system) is what’s actually required for sewage effluent, built to British Standard BS 6297. The terms get used interchangeably day to day, but the correct system for a septic tank or treatment plant is a drainage field.
Yes, before installing a drainage field, a percolation test confirms whether the ground can absorb effluent at an acceptable rate, and determines the size and layout of the field.
If your tank or treatment plant is working properly and it’s just the field that’s failed, we can usually replace the field on its own. Generally more cost-effective than replacing the whole system.
Most commonly, insufficient desludging of the tank or treatment plant, letting solids pass through and clog the field over time. Regular servicing and emptying helps protect the field as well as the tank itself.
Where ground conditions won’t support a drainage field, discharge to a watercourse via a sewage treatment plant is usually the alternative. See our Sewage Treatment Plant Installation page.
We predominantly cover Mid and North Wales, Shropshire, Cheshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and the Midlands, but we provide our Sewage Treatment Plant Installation services on a national scale.
Get in touch for a free site survey and quote.
