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Sanitation of domestic waste water

Verified 04 May 2020 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Collective or non-collective sanitation is aimed at the disposal and treatment of wastewater. Wastewater refers to sewage (water from the toilet) and gray water (water from the sink, kitchen, washing machine...). They cannot be released into the wild because they are harmful to the environment. They must therefore be treated in advance to prevent the risk of pollution.

There are 2 remediation methods:

  • Evacuation in a communal network dCollective sanitation, all-sewer
  • Recovery by annon-collective sanitation,autonomous or individual sanitation

The communal and non-collective sanitation areas of your municipality are delimited in the remediation zoning which you can consult in the town hall.

Who shall I contact

In each commune or grouping, there is a public sanitation service.. This is the PSPC for collective sanitation and SPANC for the collective non. It provides for compulsory inspection tasks and optional maintenance, discharge or works. Regardless of the method of sanitation, collective or autonomous, this service monitors the conformity of the installations and the connections.

A regulation of the public sanitation service defines the services provided by the service and the obligations of the operator, users and owners. It is given to each user.

Connection obligation

When a collective sanitation network is set up in your municipality, you have 2 years to connect an existing building.. This timeout starts when the public network is provisioned.

With the agreement of the prefect, the mayor can grant an extension of the connection times within the limit of 10 years.

A homeowner can benefit from this extension when he has obtained a building permit of less than 10 years. Its installation must be in good working order. The owner who has to install a suitable individual sanitation, pending the establishment of the collective network, can also benefit from this extension.

If the dwelling is built after the entry into service of the communal sewage network, the connection must be made during construction housing.

Some buildings are exempt from connecting, in particular where there is a technical impossibility or where the cost is exaggerated. This may be the case, for example, of a building located below a sewer.

You must send, on free paper, a request for exemption from connection to your town hall. If you get a positive response, you will need to install a self-contained sanitation system.

Who shall I contact

Connection

The connection to the public sewage collector (sewers) includes work on the public domain and work in the field the building to be connected.

The public portion are in principle carried out by the municipal sanitation department. It sets up the connecting structures located under the public road that extend to the sewerage connection at the edge of the public domain.

The City Council may decide to set up the participation in connection costs which corresponds to the expenditure incurred in carrying out the public part of the work. It is paid by all owners of connected buildings.

The work on private property are carried out by the owner of the building to be connected. It sets up the pipes necessary to drain the waste water from the building to the public part of the connection. All works are the exclusive responsibility of the owner and he has the choice of the company to carry out the work. The owner may also ask the municipality to ensure the work of conformity of the private part. In this case, it reimburses in full all the costs incurred in the commune.

The municipality controls the quality of execution of the connection to the communal sewage network.

If the dwelling is not connected or if the connection is not in conformity, the town hall may have the connection or the rehabilitation carried out automatically at the owner's expense.

Warning  

where a municipality does not have a communal sanitation network or where the network is faulty, the owner of the building or house has the obligation to install his own sanitation equipment.

Implementation of autonomous sanitation

Buildings or houses not connected to the collective sanitation network must be connected to a non-collective sanitation facility. Two types of buildings are concerned:

  • Buildings located in a non-collective sanitation area
  • Buildings without connections, in a collective sanitation area

You can do the work yourself. However, it is recommended to go to a specialized company or to the municipality if it provides this service. They will be able to carry out all the work (earthwork, digging, plumbing, connections...).

The municipality may lay down technical rules for the installation or rehabilitation of the facilities. These rules concern in particular soil studies and the choice of the type of installation according to soil permeability. Additional charges are borne by the owner.

Before starting work, you must present your project to the public non-collective sanitation service (SPANC) of your municipality. They can provide you with information on how to proceed and recommendations for your project. It performs design control of your future installation based on the study of your file. He gives you a certification of compliance with the regulations that you will attach to your application for a building permit..

At the end of the work, the SPANC also carries out performance check installation during a site visit, before filling. You must wait for this check to restore your land.

Maintenance, drain

The owner is responsible for the regular maintenance of his facility. The municipality may create a service to ensure this maintenance. In this case, the owners choose to use a private company or the service created by the municipality.

The emptying must be carried out by a company approved by the prefect. The periodicity of the discharge of the open pit or of the drainage device shall be adapted to the height of the sludge, which in general shall not exceed 50 % of the useful volume.

The NCPS checks the proper operation and maintenance of the facility at least every 10 years. The periodicity of checks in your municipality is included in the regulations of the public sanitation service.

Non-compliant installations must be subject to compliance work within 4 years, in the event of a health hazard or proven environmental risk.

FYI  

in the event of a sale, the owner has the obligation to attach a visit report of the SPANC of less than 3 years to the file of real estate engineering.. If the installation is non-compliant, work must be performed within one year of the sale.

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Collective remediation charge

The collective sanitation fee finances the treatment of wastewater. It is established by the municipal council, which sets the rate. It includes a variable part calculated according to your water consumption. It may also include a fixed part that covers all or part of the fixed charges of the sanitation service. It is due for any construction connected or connected to the sewage network, whether or not the network is connected to a sewage treatment plant.

Non-collective remediation charge

The non-collective remediation fee is a service to the user that pays only for himself. The fee includes the costs of the NCPS monitoring missions and any maintenance costs of the facility that are priced according to the nature of the service.

FAQ