Why Are Sewage Treatment Plants Required?

Sewage treatment plants offer homes and commercial properties an off-mains alternative to using the public sewer network, providing a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly way to safely dispose of wastewater.

They’re popular in rural areas as they are very self-sufficient, but their environmental benefits mean they’re being adopted elsewhere too. In certain areas, sewage treatment plants might even be required, especially as they offer a much cleaner discharge in comparison to the more common septic tank.

In this article, our experts take a look at when and why you might require a sewage treatment plant.

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How Do You Unblock a Septic Tank Soakaway?

There’s a bad smell wafting towards your home and a stagnant pool of foul-looking water is slowly growing at the bottom of your garden. If you have a septic tank installed, you could have a serious soakaway blockage on your hands!

Septic tank soakaways rarely get blocked up or broken if they are installed properly and regularly serviced. But unfortunately, not every eventuality can be planned for. Expanding tree roots, an overload of objects being flushed into the system, or excessive flooding can all lead to a blocked soakaway.

If you suspect your soakaway could be in trouble, then you’ll need to act fast to unblock a septic tank soakaway before it causes permanent damage to your wastewater disposal system or to your garden. In this article, we ask our drainage experts at OMDI how to spot a blocked soakaway and the best way to unblock a septic tank soakaway.

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Types of Sewage Treatment Plants

Sewage treatment plants are off-mains waste removal systems that allow you to safely and efficiently dispose of sewage and wastewater through an environmentally friendly process.

Sewage treatment plants can be built to meet a wide variety of needs and environmental requirements, and they can be designed for a 2-person domestic flat or for a 100-person commercial office.

This variety means that there are many different types of sewage treatment plant to consider for your property or business. There are electric plants and non-electric plants, plastic plants and fibreglass plants, there are activated sludge plants and sequential batch reactor plants…

To explain more, we asked our experts to give us a rundown of the most popular types of sewage treatment plant that can be installed in the UK.

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Can a soakaway get blocked?

Soakaways are highly useful constructions of either gravel or plastic that allow rainwater to disperse into the soil, rather than pooling and flooding in the surrounding area.

They are an efficient and environmentally friendly way of coping with excess run-off water in both commercial and domestic environments. However, if you ever find your soakaway blocked, there are concrete steps that can be taken to remedy the situation.

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How are microorganisms used in sewage treatment plants?

Although you may not know it, microorganisms in sewage treatment plants play a hugely important role in how our wastewater gets recycled. Every day, the vast majority of us run water down our drains, take showers and flush our loos all without wondering where all this water goes and what happens to it.

Instead of introducing toxic chemicals that can negatively hurt our environment, naturally occurring microorganisms are actually used to help break down organic material in our sewage systems, thereby reducing odour levels, sludge, and grease in treatment plants, lagoons, and ponds.

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What should not go in a septic tank?

If you’re located in an isolated or rural area without connections to a modern sewer network, chances are that your home or business uses a septic tank system. Septic tanks are a brilliant way to dispose of wastewater on your property using a combination of simple technology and nature’s own organic processes.

However, extra care must be used in what kinds of products, waste, and chemicals can be flushed down the various drains of your property. Though efficient in their own way, septic tanks are far more sensitive than regular sewer systems as to what they will safely accept.

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