Do you have to register your private sewage sysytem?

Having heard or read something about this, but not enough to be clear on it, many people are asking us “do we have to register our private sewage system and what is the deadline?”
Well, the answer is the that the new law, grandly called the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (S1 2010/675) (“EWR”), says you will if your system is a ‘septic tank’ but you will not have to register yet if you are in England because the Government is reviewing the registration requirements and have (for England but not Wales) postponed the original deadline of 1 January 2012. You may still register voluntarily if you want to.
A septic tank is just one kind of sewage system that is not connected to the public sewer system. It deals with the disposal of sewage entering it by a kind of filtration process which discharges the filtered waste water into the ground leaving a sludge to be periodically emptied by a domestic waste collection agency.

The obligation to register your septic tank is in regulation 74(6) of the EWR and the duty lies with the occupier of the property. The registration automatically passes with any sale of the property.
if you would like to know more about the new location, standards and operating requirements for both new and existing discharges please contact us.