Our 7 houses need a new rainwater drain so the roof water doesnt flood the septic tank.

At first I though having a soakaway near my raspberries would add more water to the plants.

But maybe digging the hole,
(and the resulting water making new underground drainage)
would mean that in drought conditions the garden would get drier than if i didnt have this hole.

Should the soakaway be near the fruit plants or as far away as is possible?

George

On 12/05/2019 14:27, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 12 May 2019 04:18:53 -0700 (PDT), George Miles
wrote:

Our 7 houses need a new rainwater drain so the roof water doesnt flood the septic tank.

At first I though having a soakaway near my raspberries would add more water to the plants.

But maybe digging the hole,
(and the resulting water making new underground drainage)
would mean that in drought conditions the garden would get drier than if i didnt have this hole.

Should the soakaway be near the fruit plants or as far away as is possible?

George

You have seven houses all draining their roof water into the septic
tank? There's bad design for you!

I think you're over-analysing the situation. I doubt very much if it
would make a lot of difference to the remainder of the garden where
you put the hole. You've got to have the hole somewhere, so put it
where the water might do some good, near the raspberries if that's
your preference. The rest of the garden won't suffer.

Or even connect it to the pipe coming from the septic tank to the
existing drainage field, which is where the water always went, but
this time after the septic tank not before it, so that it doesn't
flood the tank.

This situation sounds awfully familiar to me after having once lived for
many years in a 200-yesr-old house in the Fens. I suspect each house has
its own septic tank rather than a communal one but the high water table
on such low lying land as we had and the requirement not to pollute the
nearby waterways with effluent made it a bugger of a problem to sort
out. Erme -you're not in my old house on the Norfolk Cambridge borders,
by any chance?

I think the question might be more for Gardeners' Question Time than
uk.d-i-y but whoever answers it will probably need to know more about
the type of soil and the height of the water table before they can help.

Nick

New laws about septic tanks come into full force on January 1st 2020,
none of us can sell our houses until its all fixed.

https://www.wte-ltd.co.uk/septic_tan...ules_2020.html

The hardest things is getting everyone who shares the septic tank to agree on anything!

[g]

On Sunday, May 12, 2019 at 3:50:08 PM UTC+1, Nick Odell wrote:
On 12/05/2019 14:27, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sun, 12 May 2019 04:18:53 -0700 (PDT), George Miles
wrote:

Our 7 houses need a new rainwater drain so the roof water doesnt flood the septic tank.

At first I though having a soakaway near my raspberries would add more water to the plants.

But maybe digging the hole,
(and the resulting water making new underground drainage)
would mean that in drought conditions the garden would get drier than if i didnt have this hole.

Should the soakaway be near the fruit plants or as far away as is possible?

George

You have seven houses all draining their roof water into the septic
tank? There's bad design for you!

I think you're over-analysing the situation. I doubt very much if it
would make a lot of difference to the remainder of the garden where
you put the hole. You've got to have the hole somewhere, so put it
where the water might do some good, near the raspberries if that's
your preference. The rest of the garden won't suffer.

Or even connect it to the pipe coming from the septic tank to the
existing drainage field, which is where the water always went, but
this time after the septic tank not before it, so that it doesn't
flood the tank.

This situation sounds awfully familiar to me after having once lived for
many years in a 200-yesr-old house in the Fens. I suspect each house has
its own septic tank rather than a communal one but the high water table
on such low lying land as we had and the requirement not to pollute the
nearby waterways with effluent made it a bugger of a problem to sort
out. Erme -you're not in my old house on the Norfolk Cambridge borders,
by any chance?

I think the question might be more for Gardeners' Question Time than
uk.d-i-y but whoever answers it will probably need to know more about
the type of soil and the height of the water table before they can help.

Nick

"George Miles" wrote in message
...
Our 7 houses need a new rainwater drain so the roof water doesnt flood the
septic tank.

rainwater shouldn't go to the septic tank ....

At first I though having a soakaway near my raspberries would add more
water to the plants.

should go to the herringbone outfall from the septic tank ....

Yes Jim,
we are diverting the rainwater from the septic tanks.

My question is would a soakaway in the garden help the plants
or dry them out more in drought conditions?

Or put the soakaway outside the garden in the field

[george]

On Sunday, May 12, 2019 at 7:29:40 PM UTC+1, Jim wrote:
"George Miles" wrote in message
...
Our 7 houses need a new rainwater drain so the roof water doesnt flood the
septic tank.

rainwater shouldn't go to the septic tank ....

At first I though having a soakaway near my raspberries would add more
water to the plants.

should go to the herringbone outfall from the septic tank ....

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 13 May 2019 02:24:12 -0700 (PDT), George Miles
wrote:

Yes Jim,
we are diverting the rainwater from the septic tanks.

My question is would a soakaway in the garden help the plants
or dry them out more in drought conditions?

Or put the soakaway outside the garden in the field

[george]

On Sunday, May 12, 2019 at 7:29:40 PM UTC+1, Jim wrote:
"George Miles" wrote in message
...
Our 7 houses need a new rainwater drain so the roof water doesnt flood
the
septic tank.

rainwater shouldn't go to the septic tank ....

At first I though having a soakaway near my raspberries would add more
water to the plants.

should go to the herringbone outfall from the septic tank ....

So it's one septic tank per house then? In which case, like Jim and I
both said, connect you rainwater discharge directly to the drainage
field of the septic tank, bypassing the tank itself. No need for a
separate soakaway; no need to worry about what will happen to the rest
of the garden; the rainwater will end up where it always did, just not
by way of the septic tank.

yes it will keep the outlet nice and diluted .....

no its one septic tank shared between 7 homes, the original house divided into 4 plus stables etc converted

On Monday, May 13, 2019 at 12:18:43 PM UTC+1, Jim wrote:
"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 13 May 2019 02:24:12 -0700 (PDT), George Miles
wrote:

Yes Jim,
we are diverting the rainwater from the septic tanks.

My question is would a soakaway in the garden help the plants
or dry them out more in drought conditions?

Or put the soakaway outside the garden in the field

[george]

On Sunday, May 12, 2019 at 7:29:40 PM UTC+1, Jim wrote:
"George Miles" wrote in message
...
Our 7 houses need a new rainwater drain so the roof water doesnt flood
the
septic tank.

rainwater shouldn't go to the septic tank ....

At first I though having a soakaway near my raspberries would add more
water to the plants.

should go to the herringbone outfall from the septic tank ....

So it's one septic tank per house then? In which case, like Jim and I
both said, connect you rainwater discharge directly to the drainage
field of the septic tank, bypassing the tank itself. No need for a
separate soakaway; no need to worry about what will happen to the rest
of the garden; the rainwater will end up where it always did, just not
by way of the septic tank.

yes it will keep the outlet nice and diluted .....

On 13/05/2019 12:58, George Miles wrote:
no its one septic tank shared between 7 homes, the original house divided into 4 plus stables etc converted

If we are still interested in the plants I still think we need to know
what sort of soil you have and how far down you have to go before you
reach the water table. Back in Outwell it was only about two feet down
and it affected everything you wanted to do.

Nick