Pozo Negro emptying?

[oliveview01]

Our pozo negro is full Neighbour says we should get another one dug out- just link it to the old one by tubing. I´m hoping we can get it fully emptied- not just the water off the top. Any suggestions as to where I can find the info and also, is it possible and is it expensive?
The tanker (if it is one) would not be able to get right close to the pozo, it would have to park at the gate and pump from there- if they can.
Thanks in advance

[K chameleon]

Ask your Spanish neighbours.
We had ours emptied 18 months ago, 90 euros.
Spanish, with tractor, container thing and 100 mt.tubes.
Emptied all the "slurry" in less than 30 mins.

[Martin Page]

Pozo negros are designed to leak - that is IN - as well as OUT. With all the rain we have had I would bet that all pozo's are ful just now.
If you have it pumped out chances are it will be full again in no time as the surounding ground water fills the void left from being empty.

[oliveview01]

Tell me about it!! It was emptied the end of Jan (well all the water taken out, just the manky stuff left ) and it was almost full again once the rains stopped Glad we have no visitors at the moment
Oh for mains sewerage, what a luxury When we moved here we were told we had town water (and a well) it never occured to us that we didn´t have proper mains sewerage.
We rotovated the garden last week and the ground is still very damp, so I guess the pozo has nowhere for the water to go Another good reason for the nice hot summer, the ground dries out fast!
The neighbours empty their pozo into their olive grove- I don´t fancy emptying it into my garden where the hens are

[Pat & Emer]

You need to add a drainfield to the pozo negro. The local way is to add a large chamber alongside the existing pozo to take the liquid, but a better option is to use plasic piping in a gravel bed. The outlet pipe should be just lower than the inlet.

There again the right way is to replace your pozo with a proper septic tank, costs about 700€ for the tank alone.

[La Raya]

I think you should be talking about a poza negra rather than a pozo. The later is a water well, the former a soak-away for sewage - at least it is in Cádiz. Best not to get them confused!!

[hillybilly]

Pozo negro is the correct term (or fosa septica).

[Jennifer]

Hi Martin,
Thats a good point ,if it can leak out it can also leak in, just had a look at mine and things look ok.
The level seem to be the same all year round. I feed it once a month with Sepclean and you have to lift the cover to get even a slight smell
When we used the original WC system it emptied out on to the land and surprise that didn't smell either, fed the fig tree.....had loads of great tasty figs

J

[Devils Advocate]

Well it's nice to turn the tables and give figs the **** ..serves them right

Well done Jen

[Martin Page]

Hi Jen ...

If you dont use bleach your Pozo will not need feeding anything else other than what it get naturally, so to speak.

We have a Pozo negra and a Pozo gris for the kitchen waste water. If we use bleach its only in the kitchen.

[tjtops]

don´t fancy emptying it into my garden

Don't be so squeamish Olive!!!
Seriously though, that is the time-honoured method of 'disposing' of the water which, particularly after all the rain, will be pretty much that -- water! It's great for the trees too...
BTW it's common practice in rural England ....what do you think they fertilise the fields with???!!!
Anyway...after 4 years (!) I eventually had to give in and get the 'solids' emptied a few weeks ago and was horrified to be charged 145e - not only that, but the chamber on the lorry became full before they had finished, and they (Spanish) refused to come back and finish the job because I had no more money!

[oliveview01]

The last time I was back in the UK and had a hire car I was on my way from the airport and managed to get behind a transporter from a sewage works I was behind it for miles- the smell was truly dreadful. The road was winding and there was no overtaking When I came to a round about I went around it twice to get a space between me and the lorry- then at the next roundabout the car in front did the same I ended up behind the truck again. I was driving with my hand over my nose the best I could
Back to the Pozo Negro.... our old British neighbours built theirs under their beautiful paved patio- they have a big house so have lots of folk stay- don´t know what they will do when it needs emptying- think they last for years and years, she told me it would be at least 40 years before it needed emptying.

[tjtops]

she told me it would be at least 40 years before it needed emptying.

Ha! Wonder where on earth she got that idea from!!! It does depend a lot on the type of soil tho. If you're on clay, like me, the land simply won't absorb all the liquid, no matter how big the soakaway is...I used to have exactly the same problem in England! I think they will find it needs emptying -- at least the liquid anyway -- once if not more often every winter, more if there's a lot of rain.You can get away with not emptying the 'solids' so often tho....maybe that's what she means. Mind you, I would think every 3 -- 6 years would be more the norm for that!
PS..I do sympathise about the truck!!!

[Martin Page]

Oliveview - you can not legally have a pozo negra in the UK. you can only have a cess pit.
A pozo negra is just a big hole dug into the earth and bricked up to stop it collapsing and covered over.
A cess pit is a closed off system where there is no sepage into the imediate land . Have you have seen those realy big GRP bulb shaped containers at the builders yards and in the Jewson advert.
Both systems use aerobic digestion and all natural solds are worked out. A balanced system will never need clearing out since the amount of non digestable solids like sand, soil and ash should be so small as to not matter.

[tjtops]

big GRP bulb shaped containers at the builders yards and in the Jewson advert

Martin....without wishing to get TOO deep into basics (!) a cess pit is just what Olive and you described...the above is a septic tank (and even those are frowned upon nowadays by many local councils...one step up is the mini treatment plant which is a legal requirment now in the UK for most new builds in rural areas.... (where such are possible at all, of course! )

[Martin Page]

Indeed your quite Correct TJ ....

[tjtops]

lol thanks Martin.....what a lovely yummy subject to be correct about tho.....
Where I used to live in the UK, they were very common....everything from the old-fashioned cesspits (basically a large empty hole, sides loosely bricked up to allow water to seep out... allegedly....); then there were septic tanks (the posh ones in UK used to be Klargesters, I remember them well) also empty, which led into a separate soakaway, loosely filled with large stone...and then the mini-treatment plants (which I couldn't afford!!!) One of the old tips to get the right bacteria started was to throw a dead chicken or similar in!!!
(If you didn't put a Klargester in properly, it would 'pop' up again until it accumulated enough weight to keep it down!!!)
PS. Ref the 'balanced systems,' in reality a Klargester DOES need emptying of solids, possibly every 2 years or so, and in fact because of its design it's extremely dangerous not to. If enough solids accumulate, they force the lid up into the rim and the cleaning pipe can't push it down to be inserted; effectively then you have to get a whole new Klargester (and they're not cheap!)
You'll have guessed I learned this from bitter experience -- on one occasion it was touch and go whether ours was able to be emptied cos we'd left it too long and the lid was jammed up!!! Needless to say, we didn't let it get to that stage again
PPS...Aren't I a mine of the most fragrant information