French Plumbing!

Posted by Nicole on February 2, 2016 | Edit

French plumbing gets a bad press at the best of times.. add cesspits to the mix and it gets even worse!..

Most British households discharge the waste from their kitchen, WC and bathroom into a mains drainage system and it all goes away and you don’t have to think about what happens to it once it leaves your home.

In many areas of France, especially in the countryside where mains drainage is not available, sewage has to be treated your garden (well under your garden!) in a Fosse Septique (Septic Tank). In 1992 a new law was passed handing responsibility for overseeing and regulating old and new waste water installations to the local communes, i.e. the Marie. The new law stipulates that all household waste liquids have to be processed in the correct manner, by means of a Fosse Toutes Eaux (a septic tank that accepts all waste waters) and filtration system. In the past, many households, especially in rural areas, have allowed water from the kitchen and bathrooms to bypass the tank altogether, allowing the water to drain into the surrounding soil or nearby ditch. Now, thankfully (!) all waste has to be fully treated before it is released into the environment.

It is not just very remote houses that have to rely on septic tanks, many villages do not have mains drainage. Réminiac has only very recently moved over to mains drainage and not all of the houses in the village can benefit from mains drainage. There are twenty or so houses right in the centre, next to the church which cannot connect to the mains drainage as the houses are on a very slight slope!

It is a hugely complicated process involving grease traps, bacterial digestion, filter beds and filtration processes where toxins and chemicals are removed.

Septic tanks are inspected every 5 years and as the laws concerning the filtration processes are continually becoming more and more stringent and I don’t know of a tank that has ever past the test!.. It may pass but then 5 years later it will fail as the regulations have become tighter. Our neighbour has just has a new septic tank installed … and this cost him €12,000 !…

Sewage treatment plant in your back yard!