Septic tank and cesspool services in Eastbourne

The Levels to the east, the Downs to the west

The countryside around Eastbourne could hardly be more different on its two sides. To the north and east lie the Pevensey Levels, which Natural England describes as impervious Weald clay under river silt, with most of the site below the level of the highest tide and a network of ditches carrying the water away. They are protected three times over, as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and a wetland of international importance, and they sit in the Environment Agency's highest flood zone. A drainage field rarely works there, and a new discharge near the protected sites cannot rely on the General Binding Rules.

To the west, the villages on the Downs, such as Jevington, Friston and East Dean, sit on chalk inside the South Downs National Park. The chalk drains, but it also holds drinking water, and around Friston parts of it lie in the inner protection zone around a public supply, where a new discharge needs a permit. We check the zone for each property before anything new goes in, and do I need a sewage treatment plant explains the options when a field is ruled out.