How does it work?

 

Building new homes has an effect on the environment and the effect that is relevant to our scheme is the fact that some of the phosphate from the sewage and cleaning products that goes into the drains from a house ends up in the local river. Phosphate affects water quality because it is a fertiliser which causes an excess growth of algae in the water, worsening water quality and reducing oxygen, which plants and animals need to survive. This process is known as eutrophication, and it has led to issues highlighted around the world about the use of phosphates in planning new houses and other developments.

To be granted permission to build their projects, developers need a way to show that the local river environment will not be affected by it. Effluent from septic tanks and older inefficient treatment plants contains a lot of phosphate, whereas the modern systems that we install are independently proven to treat the waste water to such a high level that barely any phosphate enters the environment. This difference is what enables the negative effect of the new development to be balanced out, planning permission to be granted and new homes to be built, which is something developers are prepared to pay for.

To be eligible for a fully funded upgrade to a new wastewater treatment plant the first thing you need to do is register here on the website, by clicking the link below.

Once we have received your contact details and any septic tank information you can provide, we make an appointment to visit your property to check the location of the septic tank, other drainage details, the layout of your plot and practicalities such as the access route from the road to the tank. The information gathered during that visit enables us to put together a bespoke scope of work which forms part of a document pack. The pack contains additional information such as a frequently asked questions leaflet, terms and conditions, and an agreement for you to sign, and is usually provided to you at the time of our visit.

The agreement is to confirm that you are the owner of the property and that you will continue to look after the new wastewater treatment plant, which includes having it serviced and maintained. As a company of specialist installers and service engineers we provide this service, and for those signing up to the scheme this is free of charge for the first five years. We don’t tie you in to a service contract and you are free to use another service company if you wish to.

When we visit you may choose to sign the agreement and hand it back to us, or we can leave it with you to read and send back in the pre-paid envelope. With your signed agreement and proof of property ownership, we can then search our database of developers and select the most appropriate ones to acquire the funding from. Most of the time the houses are being built quite a distance away but are still within the same large river catchment, which means that the planning applications you may be aware of locally are unlikely to be the ones funding your project.

Once we have made the necessary arrangements with the developers, we will be in touch to let you know when we are able to carry out the work. We work with the Council to have the installation signed off, so that you have a Building Regulations Completion Certificate for your home file.

After the work is complete we receive the final part of the funding from the developers and send you a payment in recognition of the need for you to have some landscaping or restoration work done to your garden.

You will receive an owner’s guide, warranty document and product brochure for your files, and we will be in touch a year after installation to arrange the first service.

Thank you for taking the time to understand the process. We look forward to seeing your registration and working towards arranging your free upgrade.