Buying a rural property - are any legal??

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Wicksey
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby Wicksey » Wed Jan 29, 2020 2:17 pm

dxf wrote:Hola
so a 4 man year tank used by two people in a household will require emptying every two years
Davexf
I'm so glad I still have my pozo negro. Never a problem with that and no emptying involved :thumbup:

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dxf
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby dxf » Wed Jan 29, 2020 3:16 pm

Hola

My pozo negro is a thirty man year tank; significance being that it is that much larger. The other significance is that it is leaching foul water into the water table and the water table under Chiclana is so contaminated that not only the Junta de Andalucía are discussing the problem, but the EU is considering fines because the problem is so large.

Yes Chiclana's problem is much greater than most other places; but you need maximum distance between your well and your pozo negro. If all 17,500 illegal houses in Chiclana used a fosa septica then the water table would not be so contaminated although I am informed that you still need plots of 1,000 square metres or larger (preferably 3,000 sq metres) to sustain the current situation.

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spanish_lad
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby spanish_lad » Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:37 pm

dxf wrote:so a 4 man year tank used by two people in a household will require emptying every two years
Davexf
Indeed Dave, under "normal" circumstances... when we moved into our first campo house, we had to have the thing emptied about 3 months after. the landlord refused to pay, even tho we had only been there months and filling it would be impossible.

the last renters had put EVERYTHING you can imagine down there. sanitary items, kids nappies, condoms :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

its about € 160,00 to have it emptied, depending on the access to it for a small "tanker" type vehicle.
Alhaurin el Grande since 99, working at the airport since 2011.

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dxf
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby dxf » Wed Jan 29, 2020 10:46 pm

Hola

OUCH - we pay 70€ for fresh water and 90 or 100€ for emptying

Davexf

El Cid
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby El Cid » Wed Jan 29, 2020 11:23 pm

Ours has worked fine for 17 years with no emptying!

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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby country boy » Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:41 am

Ours has done 20 and ditto. Treat with respect!

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gerryh
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby gerryh » Thu Jan 30, 2020 10:59 am

As the 2 posters above have said a proper multi-chamber septic tank, used correctly, should never need emptying.
I've had mine for 13 years.
So surprised to see in an earlier post:-
"I have just discovered /been told that Vélez-Málaga have recently changed the rules for septic tanks. Apparently they now have to be a sealed deposito that does not leach into the ground. These will now need emptying on a regular basis. Someone please tell me I am wrong!"
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby Devils Advocate » Thu Jan 30, 2020 11:10 am

It won't be retrospective though surely. If you've got multi chamber plastic tank with the drain pipe coming off it you'd not need to change it until you sold up surely? I can see it makes sense clamping down on some "poso's" as I was amazed to see (and smell) some of them were just soakaways, no containment whatsoever.
Property owner in Andalucia since 2002. How time flies.

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Wicksey
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby Wicksey » Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:07 pm

Never had a problem with pozo negros, certainly no smell, whereas we always know when our neighbours are here from the smell wafting up from their plastic septic tank. I think it would take a long time for anything going into our pozo to end up in the water table and there is an outlet pipe we think for liquid to run off. It's all sealed under concrete and chino/flower beds so not absolutely sure where it is or how big it is. Impossible to access it now so we'd be reluctant to have to change it for a septic tank.

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peteroldracer
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby peteroldracer » Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:19 pm

You may find that your neighbours do not care what they put down the loos and sinks. If they are town-dwellers their main home will have mains drainage so they may be used to using toilet cleansing chemicals and flushing items other than a minimum of toilet tissue and human waste, which will soon kill the bacteria that should be eating away merrily. A fosa septica, properly installed and of the right size for the number of users should never need emptying and should not smell.
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Wicksey
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Re: Buying a rural property - are any legal??

Postby Wicksey » Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:40 pm

PoR it's the 'properly installed' bit I wonder about!


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