Discharging grey water to stream/Emergency NHS camping

[adam2]

Does anyone know if this is allowed in the present emergency.

Waste water from showers and handwashing discharged into a stream that runs about 1 km into the sea.
It is proposed to add a washing machine.

Reason is coronavirus emergency.
Several NHS workers are camping on a friends land in motor caravans, trailer caravans and a large tent. 8 persons, may increase to 10 persons.

Mains water is available via a vast length of garden hose.
Mains electricity is a challenge, may have to get a generator.
No easy way to dispose of grey water except into the stream.

No toilet waste as Turdi have been hired.

[BritDownUnder]

Why not build a soak away. Some link of large hole filled with rubble then covered with sand then soil.

Other than that I can only speak for New South Wales law where discharge of grey water is allowable into gardens to use as watering of plants and lawns etc. Their rule is that the water must never break the surface and instead be discharged into perforated pipes buried under the lawn or under trees/garden plots etc.

I would guess that the UK would like the water to go through septic systems first but unfortunately I am too young to remember how our system discharged when I lived in the UK.

[kenneal - lagger]

Discharging untreated waste into a stream would be prosecuted if detected. Grey water is fairly easy to treat though. Burying a length of 75 or 100mm diameter perforated pipe about 150 to 200 below the surface alongside a hedgerow if one is available would do it. The length required would depend on the permiability of the soil at the level of the pipe. Dig a hole of known surface area, fill it with water and time how long it takes to drain and relate that to the rate of filling and the length of the pipe.

At that depth the soil bacteria will do the treatment for you. If you've got a big greenhouse or a polytunnel route the water into that. Urine can also go into this waste stream.

[adam2]

Guess who is going to be doing a lot of digging tomorrow !
With an excavator of course, not by hand.

Rather than perforated plastic pipe, what about a channel made of scrap wood, buried in the trench ? Wood will eventually rot away which is preferable to burying plastic forever.

Then the washing machine can be put into use, which will be much appreciated by all involved.

Electrics will need close attention, it all looks a bit pikey at present.

[UndercoverElephant]

Does anyone know if this is allowed in the present emergency.

Waste water from showers and handwashing discharged into a stream that runs about 1 km into the sea.
It is proposed to add a washing machine.

Reason is coronavirus emergency.
Several NHS workers are camping on a friends land in motor caravans, trailer caravans and a large tent. 8 persons, may increase to 10 persons.

Mains water is available via a vast length of garden hose.
Mains electricity is a challenge, may have to get a generator.
No easy way to dispose of grey water except into the stream.

No toilet waste as Turdi have been hired.

Likely to cause significant damage to whatever lives in the stream.

[BritDownUnder]

I am interested in why NHS workers are camping. Are there not houses or nurses homes for such workers?

[adam2]

I am interested in why NHS workers are camping. Are there not houses or nurses homes for such workers?

Whilst times are normal, the great majority of NHS staff live in their own homes, either a purchased or rented property.
However times are not normal at present.
A significant minority of NHS staff are choosing to live apart from their families in order to reduce the risk of any work acquired infection affecting their families.
Caravans and motorhomes are popular for this purpose.
They are ideal provided that ample space is kept between each unit, and reasons for interaction between occupants are minimised.


In a few cases, living away from home is to reduce the time spent on travel, but infection control is the usual reason.

[adam2]

Drainage now done.
Trench dug and a wooden channel constructed therein, The opportunity was taken to plant some trees, to form the basis of a new hedgerow.

The ditch is about 10 meters long. The wooden channel has sides about 300 mm high and has a "roof" of scrap wood, open at the bottom.
All waste water apart from toilet waste is either piped to this soakaway, or tipped manually.

Washing machine installed in a shed built for the purpose.

Electrics improved but still not ideal due to very excessive voltage drop. Everyone is trying to avoid resorting to a generator due to the cost and the noise.
One "happy camper" used a petrol generator initially but was horrified by the petrol consumption of 100 liters in only a few days.

[adam2]

BTW, one of the young doctors dug the ditch because "it looked fun to drive the digger" Another doctor remarked that the whole operation now looks "like the staff compound of a refugee camp"

I have improved the electrics by boosting the voltage at the supply end to 290 volts, and fitting a voltage regulator at the far end to give about 230 volts.
At least everything is now on RCDs and nothing vulnerable is exposed to the weather.

Several domestic extension leads have been disposed off because the smoke had escaped.

[kenneal - lagger]

I hope the trench is covered with soil to stop the smell which would otherwise be awful during the summer.

[adam2]

Yes it is. About a meter deep from the "roof" of the drainage channel to the surrounding ground level.

[Vortex2]

The rules for discharging water have tightened up in the UK very recently.

Grey water is definitely illegal.

We discharge clean water from a packaged plant into a ditch - a year ago we had to be approved by the Environment Agency and get a licence.

Apparently if we applied today we wouldn't get approval .. so couldn't live in our new eco house!

Close call!

Also septic tanks are now illegal!

[vtsnowedin]

Also septic tanks are now illegal!

If you are in a rural area not served by municipal sewer lines what is your alternative?

[Vortex2]

Also septic tanks are now illegal!

If you are in a rural area not served by municipal sewer lines what is your alternative?

Good question.

Sealed cess pits are huge, expensive to maintain and even illegal in some parts of the UK.

Septic tanks required a leach field and 1000s exist .. but are now banned.
Existing units will need to be replaced by packaged plant which emist essentially clean water.

So now you need a packaged plant feeding a soakaway NOT a ditch or stream.

So if you have heavy clay or insufficient land a soakway won't be possible ... so no waste disposal under the latest rules!

[vtsnowedin]

Also septic tanks are now illegal!

If you are in a rural area not served by municipal sewer lines what is your alternative?

Good question.

Sealed cess pits are huge, expensive to maintain and even illegal in some parts of the UK.

Septic tanks required a leach field and 1000s exist .. but are now banned.
Existing units will need to be replaced by packaged plant which emist essentially clean water.

So now you need a packaged plant feeding a soakaway NOT a ditch or stream.

So if you have heavy clay or insufficient land a soakway won't be possible ... so no waste disposal under the latest rules!

And of course in these stressful economic times the cost of these upgrades will be born completely by HMG?