Kent

Cesspool and septic tank services in Wittersham

Wittersham sits on the Isle of Oxney, a low hill of farmland surrounded on every side by the flat Rother Levels, which was coastline until the river and the sea moved away. There is no mains sewer across most of the island, so the village houses, farms and cottages manage their own waste water.

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KP Cesspool Services orange vacuum tanker parked on a Kent country lane with its suction hose run out

We cover Wittersham, Stone in Oxney and the farms around them, on the road between Tenterden and Rye.

Working in Wittersham

Higher ground on the island itself, with the levels below holding water through the winter.
The channels draining the levels are never far away, which shapes any new discharge.
Narrow lanes with soft verges, so we stop on firm ground and run a hose to the tank.

An island above the levels

The Isle of Oxney rises out of the Rother Levels, with the River Rother along its southern side and the Reading Sewer, a drainage channel that follows much of the river's old course, along its northern side. The village's Stocks Mill, a post mill from the late eighteenth century, stands on the high ground looking out across them.

Up on the island, the ground can sometimes take a septic tank's drainage field on a large enough plot. Down on the levels it rarely can, because the water table rises close to the surface for months at a time, and a field must also sit at least 10 metres from any watercourse, which on ground crossed by drainage channels rules out a lot. A treatment plant can discharge to a channel that flows all year, provided it meets the General Binding Rules.

For properties on a cesspool, winter is the season to watch, because a tank that suddenly fills twice as fast is usually taking in groundwater. Installing a septic tank in Rye covers the same levels further downstream, and our cesspool emptying can be set on a regular round.