29 Jan


Mr Smith from Basingstoke
Question: How far does a septic tank need to be from a building?
Answer: As far as building regulations are concerned here is what they say:
"Septic tanks should be sited at least 7m from any habitable parts of buildings, and preferably downslope."
As for the soakaway/drainage field this should be as follows
- at least 10m from any watercourse or permeable drain;
- at least 50m from the point of abstraction of any groundwater supply and not in any Zone 1 groundwater protection zone;
- at least 15m from any building;
- sufficiently far from any other drainage fields, drainage mounds or soakaways so that the overall soakage capacity of the ground is not exceeded.
Hope this answers your question Mr Smith
3 Comment(s)
Quality information! I didn\'t realise that there was a restriction on the distance from the building depending on the type of property!
Understood- what arrangements need to be made for the run off from the septic tank? Are there any minimum distances from neighbours, watercourses, roads etc to be taken into account? Can it drain into a roadside ditch?
Thank you
Hi Mr SelbyThank you for the question, the best thing is to consult with your local building control as they will advise based on your specific needs, this can change a bit from sit to site.Regards,
Hello. Our septic tank (built pre-2000) which drains into a drainage field is 9 metres from our house. Are we ok to sell the house without replacing it?
Hi Mr AndrewsYou may be ok but it would be down to building control to approve.
Leave a Comment