Siting, Sizing & Regulations

What Size Do I Need

The size of your sewage treatment plant is dependent on the number of humans using it and the way that it may be used. For domestic residential use, each person is judged to contaminate 200 ltrs of water per day, the actual size needed is then calculated by the number of bedrooms in the property. Therefore a 4 bed house is deemed to require a 6 PE Ecodigester, as a general rule of thumb calculation you can use 1.5 persons per bedroom in your house.

Holiday Accommodation
if you are proposing to use an Ecodigester for holiday accommodation (which you expect to be in continuous use for over six weeks) you should use the formula of 2 persons per bedroom.

You do not need to worry if you have a large number of people to stay for a few weeks. this will not affect your Ecodigester Unit. For full information about sizing please refer to the British Water publication, which is the guidance used by the industry.

Siting Information

The Ecodigester must be sited more than 7m from the nearest habitable building
The discharge point into the ground or stream must be more than 10m from the nearest habitable building
Ensure that you have checked with the relevant authorities that you have the correct authorization - Discharge Consent - if applicable

Ensure that you have checked with the local authority with regard to Building Regulation approval
If you are discharging to a land drain, ensure that you have checked to porosity of the soil
You will need an electrical supply to within 10m of the sewage treatment plant, If discharging to a land drain you will need to have a sampling point after the Ecodigester- also available from us.

Regulations

If you are building a New House , you must check with the National Authorities as to whether you will need a Discharge Consent. from the relevant agency, these consents can take up to 3 months from date of application.This document is a legal requirement, you may not be able to sell your property without it (if it is needed)

In England and Wales--The Environment Agency Link here
In Scotland -The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency
In Northern Ireland - The Department of Environment

If you are upgrading an existing cesspit or septic tank , either by replacing it with a new sewage treatment plant or using an upgrade plant, you may not need permission unless you are intending to discharge to a stream, split the system from your neighbor or change the way the effluent is discharged, however it is always wise to check !!!!

You will most probably also need Building Regulation Approval issued by your Local Authority. Always Check!!!