We are building a new house on the site of existing bungalow( to be demolished) which has a septic tank. I think the drainage field is shot but any way we are putting in a new treatment plant. For planning you have to have soakaways or rainwater recycling and we have a large enough area to have a SUDS, lagoon or pond, the name changes depending what you use it for but basically its water , with reeds and a some sort of natural filter system before its discharge into the ditch. I want to use the existing septic tank to start treating and store the water, I have found information for doing this from Australia and New Zealand which show how to clean the tank before reuse but can find nothing from the UK. Has any one found any UK information for doing this or had experience. The old septic tank will not be used for black water once decommissioned.
Also while the house is being built the poor old septic tank is finding it hard to cope with the extra water so I was going to have a go at treating the grey water on a small scale using a holding tank that will pipe the grey water over gravel beds made from any old plastic troughs I can find, has anyone had any experience.