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I have a Residential building(India) which has no space in both front and back yard. It's a newly built two storey building( 3 houses ). There is 5 feet space available parallel to building wall.

As the sand is clay , I couldn't do soakway to drain the sewage water hence I'm planning to dig three 2.5 ft width cement well ring for 10 feet depth and 5 feet distance from each well and 1.5 feet from building wall. so sewage water from each house will go it's individual cement ring well.

I really feel this can solve my sewage water issue.

But I'm really worried whether it could affect my building as soil underneath can loosen.

Please give me suggestions

FYI: Click here to read building tilt accident

Basically a borewell nearby the building has weakened the foundation of the building and has caused building to tilt.

CuriousMan
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    You need to consult with a civil engineer for capacity evaluation and code compliance check. – r13 Oct 12 '21 at 16:57
  • Please clarify: "As the sand is clay" and "soakway". Are you looking to build your own septic system? Is this in addition to an existing septic system? Is it for something else entirely? Where in the world are you located? Nobody will know better the local laws and soil types than a local civil engineer and the local inspector's office. They'd be the ones to ask. – FreeMan Oct 12 '21 at 17:19
  • Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. – Community Oct 12 '21 at 17:19
  • I'm just looking to drain the sewage water but as the sand is clay . I couldn't do so.I've updated the question now – CuriousMan Oct 12 '21 at 17:35
  • When you say "sewage" are you referring to the waste water produced by the house (sinks, toilets, tubs, etc) or are you referring to storm run-off (rain water collecting on the roof, running down gutters/downspouts & hitting the ground)? If you're referring to sewage, I'd think you'd have to refer to your local building and wastewater codes – FreeMan Oct 12 '21 at 17:56
  • @FreeMan - I'm referring sewage. There's no clear cut codes on waste water management by local govt body. Just trying to understand if it'd affect the building. – CuriousMan Oct 12 '21 at 18:27
  • Building construction foundation is at 6 feet and ground water table level is at 8 feet. – CuriousMan Oct 12 '21 at 19:11
  • @FreeMan - Updated my question with some news. – CuriousMan Oct 13 '21 at 18:47
  • @r13 - I spoke with couple of civil engineers they're saying I can go ahead with Cement ring but some are saying it's risk to build cement ring well parallel to building. I'm really confused here. can't flood neighbhours plot with my grey water or couldn't build a cement ring to hold grey water. Hope my frustration is understood. I'm clueless on what to do here] – CuriousMan Oct 13 '21 at 18:54
  • What is your current "sewage water issue?" that you mention which drives you to ask this question? I hope it's not the building in the link. – rtaft Oct 13 '21 at 19:05
  • My building produces 1800Litre of grey water daily ( 3 houses ) as of now the water is passed on the neigbhouring empty plots but the owners don't want water to be reaching their plot anymore and there's no sewage line given by local government body. So I'm thinking to build a proper way to handle this grey water. The ground is clay and cement ring seeems to be a good possibility but I'm worried that could cause my building to tilt. Suggestions please – CuriousMan Oct 13 '21 at 19:21
  • Does the building have a basement? What is Its length along the side of the 60' land, and how deep? Does the groundwater start 8' below the finished grade? How is the soil profile look like (X' sand + Y' clay then rock, or X' clay - Y' sand...and so on), your neighbor drilling experience may provide the answer to this question. – r13 Oct 13 '21 at 19:27
  • Building doesn't have any basement. My neighbors told me it's completely clay they have done some boring. Yes ground water starts below the finished foundation pillars. – CuriousMan Oct 13 '21 at 19:30
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    Please allow me some time to think about, see if I can come up with a simple yet feasible solution. – r13 Oct 13 '21 at 19:56
  • @r13 - Thanks mate. The foundation pillars are 6 feet below the ground level and the shoe size is 4 feet. Just in case if it helps – CuriousMan Oct 13 '21 at 20:03

2 Answers2

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Most sanitary sewer systems drain directly into a sanitary sewerline. If one is not available then a drainfield can be designed based on the type of soil, quantity of sewage expected, etc.

If you use a cement ring design that is not properly designed and sealed, then the sanitary liquid could either leak through the cracks in the rings and wash the soil away overtime or sanitary material (paper, debris, etc.) could plug all the cracks and cause the pit to overflow over time.

Regardless, having the pits so close to the foundation can accelerate a failure by contamination or washing the soil (soil fines) away from the foundation, including your neighbors foundation. I wouldn’t do it without a sanitary engineer designing the system.

Lee Sam
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A rough idea:

enter image description here

  1. Bore and install a pipe as the rate of water dissipation in the onsite soil (permeability) test well. Fill the pipe and time the change of water depth at a later time. After a few trials, you can get a pretty good idea of how fast the water will dissipate, so you can size the volume of the wastewater collector/processor chamber to fit your needs (with a safety factor).

  2. I suggest the system shall include a 2.5' I.D. settlement basin to catch large/heavy particles and the floating grease. Then connect the settlement basin to the main collector through a metal pipe. The collector shall be a concrete box with an open, or perforated, base to allow the water to dissipate freely. It should be sitting on top of a thick layer of gravel. The box shall have a 2.5' wall-to-wall clear distance, its length depends on the result from the water dissipation test and your need/goal.

I think you can fit this system in between columns so as not to disturb the foundations. Also, the change in groundwater elevations will be kept to a minimum, so there is no risk in building settlement due to groundwater overdrawn.

Best of all, you can expand this system at a later date shall the demand change. And you can always pump out water from the overflow pipe if necessary.

Please do discuss with an engineer, who might come up with a plan that best suits your situation and local practices. I am surprised at what your civil engineer has suggested unless the onsite soil posses a good permeability as indicated in the chart below.

enter image description here

http://www.clean-water-for-laymen.com/soil-permeability.html

r13
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