I will ask again, “What is the borehole proximity to your septic tank?” By proximity, I mean, how close are they?
You ought to know that site slope determines drainage systems and plumbing works.
Site slope simply means the angle of inclination of a plot of land, also known as, the gradient. Picture a line graph as it goes down from hundred to zero over a period of 1 hour. I hope you understand this.
In laying out building services around your site, there are 3 service locations that you must be mindful of with respect to your site slope. These service locations are the overhead tank position, the septic tank position, and the borehole position.
Let’s say your site’s slope is from left to right, the correct position for your overhead water tank will be on the left, which is the higher part of the site.
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This helps water to flow down freely, even without pressure pipes.
The correct position for your septic tank will be at the right, which is the lower side of your site.
Toilet waste flows down easily to the septic tank, without blockage in this position.
The position for a borehole is also at the right, the lower section of your site, to enable diggers to get to the water table faster. Sometimes, it could still be located on the left to reduce the cost of pushing water from the lower side up to the overhead tank on the higher side.
Most natural groundwater is barely contaminated, however, there is a possibility of contamination by human activities (anthropogenic activities).
Now here is the twist, if you are using the borehole to fill your overhead tank and the borehole is located near the fence line and your neighbour’s septic tank is on the other side of your fence, do you see the trouble you are already in?
Contaminated water from sewage drains/leakage can cause any form of illness from Typhoid to Hepatitis A.
The barest/minimum distance between a borehole and a septic tank is 10 metres but with the sizes of our plots in our beautiful country, I doubt that is feasible.
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You might want to check in with your neighbours to see the position of their properties to reduce what you come in contact with, especially if the same borehole is your source of drinking water and you have no adequate water treatment facility.
