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Possible soil contamination.

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  • 27-08-2022 1:24pm
    #1
    ceoltoir
    Registered Users Posts: 96 ✭✭


    There’s a large area at the back of my house that’s completely overgrown with enormous brambles and Himalayan Balsam. I want to clear it but I’m worried that it may have been contaminated by overflow from an old septic tank situated on higher ground nearby. I’m worried that it could be a health hazard if I venture down there.

    How and where can I get the soil tested for sewage contamination? If it is contaminated is there any way of rehabilitating it?



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    #2
    blackbox
    Registered Users Posts: 4,313 ✭✭✭blackbox


    As long as it's not fresh sewage there should be no problem.



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    #3
    ceoltoir
    Registered Users Posts: 96 ✭✭ceoltoir


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119528900#Comment_119528900

    I’m not sure. The tank is still in use. I inherited the house in recent years but haven’t lived there in over 20 years.



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    #4
    elperello
    Registered Users Posts: 14,965 ✭✭✭✭elperello


    Assuming that the land and septic tank are on your property you would be safe enough clearing all the above ground vegetation and then you will be better able to assess the extent of any contamination.

    You will probably want to find out what is causing the overflow from the tank ie. is it poor percolation, blocked pipe etc.

    The tank will most likely need pumping out also.



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    #5
    The Continental Op
    Registered Users Posts: 6,722 ✭✭✭The Continental Op


    In the old days the Victorians used to have a pump attached to the septic tank of the main house on big estates and the liquid would be pumped into wheelbarrows and used to fill the bottom of the trenches during double digging in the veg garden.

    There is nothing in a septic tank or its overflow thats going to kill you. Provided you don't have a cess pool rather than a septic tank I'm pretty sure your fine, only if there is a massive concentration of nutrients will there be any contamination and in this country with all the rain nutrients don't last long in the soil provided there is some drainage.

    If the tank hasn't been pumped out in the last 20 years that would be a good start. Ours lasts about 20 years before it needs pumping out but that is with careful use and regard to what goes down the drains. Badly used with every modern chemical going down them some only last a couple of years or less before they need emptying.

    Wake me up when it's all over.



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    #6
    ceoltoir
    Registered Users Posts: 96 ✭✭ceoltoir


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119529108#Comment_119529108

    The tank is indeed on my property. It's a concrete homemade structure, built in the early 1960s. It's still in good condition but probably hasn't been pumped out in twenty years and has been somewhat neglected. I'll arrange to get that done in the next few weeks.



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    #7
    ceoltoir
    Registered Users Posts: 96 ✭✭ceoltoir



    I imagine the contents of the tank were very good for the vegetable garden, though I wouldn't like to be one of the unfortunate peasants who had to do the job. Not sure I'd be happy to eat the produce either. I knew a man in Donegal whose job in Glasgow's Gorbals was emptying the contents of latrines into a creel and carrying it down the stairs of tenement houses. He lived to be a grand old age.

    It's reassuring to know that it's safe to go in and clear the place up. My fears were probably down to too much reading on the EPA and county council websites. They predict all sorts of plagues from sewage.

    The tank hasn't been pumped out in probably twenty years. I'll arrange to have that done soon. There's certainly no shortage of rain in Donegal, so the overflow would all be washed away.

    It would be nice to install a new system with a percolation are in a slightly more suitable location but I imagine that would be fairly costly. It's something for the future.



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    #8
    standardg60
    Registered Users Posts: 4,691 ✭✭✭standardg60


    Glad you're reassured OP, my grandparents didn't even have a septic tank, you did your business in a bucket and then threw it on a heap outside, the nettles were a mile high!

    God forgive me i would make forts among them in childhood innocence, still here though.



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    #9
    The Continental Op
    Registered Users Posts: 6,722 ✭✭✭The Continental Op


    Try and work out what you have got first. Many of the old systems are far better than the EPA would have us believe.

    I doubt yours is home made, if it is then it may have some interesting "features" a common one was holes in the bottom and sides to allow for additional "drainage". If you can, be there when the tank is emptied and take a look at it as much as you can and take photos of it - with care don't drop your phone in it but shots of all the walls from inside the tank can be really useful. Then ask the guys emptying it what they think of it, they will be far more knowledgeable than someone on the local council planning office.

    Wake me up when it's all over.



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    #10
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Just to note Himalayan Balsam is a third schedule invasive species, with all the regulations that go with such status. Illegal to cause to spread, so be careful to avoid its spread to any watercourses etc. It's an annual and seed set is about now, so it's not really a suitable time to go at it; seeds burst and shed at the least touch.

    Donegal has quite an issue with this species and the local authorities etc do try to monitor it, but a very difficult task.



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    #11
    elperello
    Registered Users Posts: 14,965 ✭✭✭✭elperello


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119534988#Comment_119534988

    When you are deciding what to do long term don't forget that a grant is available to update your system.

    https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/water_and_coasts/domestic_wastewater_treatment.html



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    #12
    Redlim
    Registered Users Posts: 327 ✭✭Redlim


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119536402#Comment_119536402

    The one major catch with that though is that the tank needs to have been registered before Feb 2013 in order to be eligible for the grant.

    A few years after we bought our house our tank failed an inspection and we ended up having to pay the full cost of the upgrade ourselves. The previous owner only registered the tank in 2015 during the sale process.



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    #13
    The Continental Op
    Registered Users Posts: 6,722 ✭✭✭The Continental Op


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119546271#Comment_119546271

    Thats tough I'm fairly sure from talking to the guys that empty septic tanks (legally not the farmers that still do it and then spread it on the nearest field) next to no one in our county got inspected.

    Wake me up when it's all over.



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    #14
    Redlim
    Registered Users Posts: 327 ✭✭Redlim


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119546404#Comment_119546404

    Yeah it was a bit of a shock to the system alright, both in terms of being inspected in the first place and then having to fork out for the repair works



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    #15
    MacDanger
    Registered Users Posts: 2,598 ✭✭✭MacDanger


    That grant for septic tanks is a complete sham - it's only available if you fail an inspection (you can't request an inspection even if you know your tank is crap (pardon the pun) as per the OP) and hardly any inspections are ever done. I think it was introduced to fulfill the letter of an EU regulation while not really fulfilling the spirit.



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