Ground discharge
Drainage field and soakaway installation in Suffolk
Where the ground drains well enough, a drainage field lets treated water soak away safely. It can bring an existing septic tank into line with the rules without replacing the tank.
Does your ground suit a drainage field?
Suffolk soils vary a lot over short distances. The Sandlings near the coast and the Breckland in the west are often free-draining. High Suffolk, across the middle of the county, is mostly heavy clay where water barely moves. A percolation test on your site is the only reliable answer.
What we do
- Carry out the percolation test and check groundwater level.
- Design the field to the size the result requires, with the right distances from buildings, boundaries and wells.
- Dig the trenches, lay distribution pipes in gravel, and connect the tank or plant.
- Replace failed rubble soakaways that are flooding or backing up.
If the ground fails the test, a treatment plant discharging to a ditch is usually the alternative.
Drainage field questions
What is a percolation test?
A test that measures how quickly water soaks into the ground at the depth of the planned drainage field. Building regulations use the result to decide whether a field can work and how big it must be.
Is a soakaway the same as a drainage field?
Not quite. Old soakaways were often a single pit filled with rubble. The rules now require a properly designed drainage field, usually a series of perforated pipes laid in gravel trenches.
Can I keep my septic tank if I add a drainage field?
Often yes. If the tank is sound and the ground drains well enough, redirecting the outflow to a new drainage field can bring the system into line with the rules.