Guidance Notes on Discharges from Village Houses
Precautions when planning for a new STS
| 24. |
Remember "PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE".
Before you decide to construct a new STS
either to serve your new village house,
| or |
to replace your problematic STS, |
| or |
to extend your undersized STS, |
| or |
to match your plan to install flushing toilets and shower etc. in your house, you should: |
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| (a) |
ensure first that there is no communal sewer available into which you could connect (see paragraph 35). Approach nearby developments to consider the possibility of a joint connection to communal sewer being made; |
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| (b) |
examine the feasibility of a STS, and carry out a soil percolation test before deciding to construct a STS;
| (Note : A STS is not feasible in areas |
| i) |
prone to flooding during storms, |
| ii) |
with high groundwater table, OR |
| iii) |
with impermeable soil.) |
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| (c) |
locate and size your STS suitably, and allow adequate land for its construction , i.e.
| i) |
do not locate your STS near streams, wells, retaining walls, etc., or beneath your house, |
| ii) |
size your STS according to your anticipated maximum discharge loading and the absorption capacity of the local soil (based on soil percolation test results obtained beforehand), and |
| iii) |
locate your STS in an open space with easy access for desludging; |
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| (d) |
investigate the possibility of constructing a communal STS or communal sewage treatment plant; (This will probably help to alleviate problems associated with scarcity of land for individual STS's, poor soil permeability and sites too close to streams etc.); and |
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| (e) |
SEEK SPECIALIST ADVICE WHENEVER YOU ARE IN DOUBT. |
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