What an overdue cesspool, septic tank or treatment plant does in East Sussex, from failed drainage fields on the clay to pollution reaching protected water.
At KP Cesspool Services, we see the same chain of events on East Sussex properties where a tank has been left too long, whether it is a cesspool, a septic tank or a treatment plant. An overdue tank does not simply stop taking waste. It backs up, it pushes solids where they were never meant to go, and on East Sussex ground it can wreck a drainage field or send sewage towards water that is protected by law. This guide explains what goes wrong with each kind of system, and why the cost climbs so steeply once it starts. Our tank emptying and desludging covers the whole county.
An overdue cesspool overflows
A cesspool has no outlet, so when it is full, the only ways out are back up the pipes into the house or over the top of the tank into the garden. Neither is subtle. Sewage coming up through a downstairs toilet or a shower tray means cleaning, disinfecting and sometimes replacing floors. Sewage over the top of the tank soaks into the ground and runs downhill.
That last part matters more in East Sussex than most places. Low lying ground such as the Pevensey Levels and the levels around Rye is criss crossed with ditches, and some of it sits in or near sites protected by law. An overflow that reaches a ditch is a pollution incident, and the owner is responsible for it. What happens if a cesspool overflows covers the clean up and what follows.
An overdue septic tank kills its drainage field
A septic tank fails more quietly, and more expensively. As the sludge on the bottom and the crust on the top thicken, the clear layer in between shrinks, until solids start leaving the tank with the liquid. They go straight into the drainage field, coat the gravel and the soil around the pipes, and seal them.
On free draining ground a field can sometimes recover. On the heavy clay that covers so much of the Low Weald, it rarely does. Clay drains slowly at the best of times, and a field clogged with sludge on top of that waterlogs, backs up into the tank and surfaces in the garden. At that point the fix is not an empty. It is a new drainage field, or a different system altogether, and replacing a failed drainage field explains what that involves. The annual empty that would have prevented it costs a small fraction of the price.
An overdue treatment plant stops treating
A treatment plant has to have its sludge removed too, at least once a year or as the manufacturer advises. Left too long, the sludge carries over from the first chamber into the part of the plant where the bacteria do their work, and then out with the treated water. The plant keeps running and keeps discharging, but what reaches the stream or ditch is no longer clean.
Many plants in the High Weald discharge to small streams that feed the county's rivers, and the General Binding Rules allow that only because the plant is meant to treat the waste properly. A plant pushing sludge into a stream is no longer meeting the rules, and the owner is responsible for keeping it in good working order. Our treatment plant servicing and repairs cover desludging alongside the service.
Backed up pipes and blockages
Whatever the system, a full tank slows everything upstream of it. Water sits in the pipes between the house and the tank, solids settle out of it, and a pipe that never gave trouble starts to block. Clearing the blockage without emptying the tank only moves the problem. What causes blocked drains and tanks explains the usual culprits.
Why the cost climbs so steeply
An empty is a routine visit. The problems above are not. An overflow brings an emergency callout and a clean up. A failed drainage field means excavation and new ground works. A plant that has carried sludge out may need its media cleaned or its parts replaced. And if pollution reaches a watercourse, the Environment Agency can require action on top of all of it. Most of that is avoided by emptying on time.
How to stay ahead of it
Know your system and its interval. A cesspool usually needs emptying every four to eight weeks, a septic tank once a year, and a treatment plant desludged at least once a year with a service every six to twelve months. Put it on a schedule rather than waiting for warnings, fit an alarm on a cesspool, and act on the first signs rather than the last. Signs your cesspit is getting full in East Sussex explains which warnings to trust on this ground.
Booking an empty
Our emptying rounds take in the East Sussex villages we cover, from the coast to the High Weald. KP Cesspool Services has over twenty years' experience, and you can read our reviews on Checkatrade. Call 01233 720725, email kpcesspoolservices@hotmail.com, or contact us to book.
Need a hand with yours?
We cover Kent and East Sussex 24 hours a day. Ring us and a real person will pick up, whatever time it is.
