Septic Tanks in Great Dunmow

For most homes you do not need a permit, as long as the system meets the Environment Agency's rules. You do need one in some places, for example in a groundwater protection zone, near a protected site, or where the discharge is larger than the rules allow — worth checking around Great Dunmow, because chalk ground brings the drinking-water zones into play more often than the Essex clays do. A new tank or plant also needs building regulations approval, and sometimes planning permission. We tell you which apply to your plot, and we work with your local building control.

The ground test decides. A septic tank needs soil that drains well enough to take the water. A treatment plant cleans the water much further, so it can be used where the soil is slower, and it can sometimes discharge to a ditch or stream that flows all year round. Around Great Dunmow either can work, so we test first.

Yes. We empty and service septic tanks and treatment plants in Great Dunmow, as well as installing and replacing them. They need emptying at least once a year, or as often as the maker says, and a treatment plant also needs regular servicing. Tell us what you have and we can advise.

It needs care. Most of Great Dunmow is outside the higher flood zones, but low ground near a river or ditch still needs checking. Tanks in ground that floods need anchoring so they cannot float, and drainage fields in ground that floods will not work when you most need them to. The Environment Agency restricts discharges in some flood-risk situations, so it is a design question from the start.