One of the great concerns of the time is environment. More and more organic products are put on the market and we are asked to reduce our energy consumption and pollution.
As part of a pollution prevention plan, French septic tanks will be inspected, to ensure they are not polluting Mother Nature. The authorities have to survey all the septic tanks in the country by 2012, in order to reduce pollution from faulty or badly installed systems.
If you have a property in France, you will have to submit to these inspections. The public service for individual waste water (SPANC) will make an appointment with you to come to your house and will ask to access all inspection covers to your septic tank and in your septic tank filter bed. If, like in many French properties, your septic tank is totally buried, they will register your house as having no sanitation system. As you cannot guess where it is buried, you will have to ask the former owners or neighbours. Once they have found and inspected the tank, they tell you whether you are in the clear or not. If there is anything wrong with your septic tank, they write a report telling you what to do to rectify your sanitation system. You then have four years to comply with it. You can ask for financial support to undertake the work. If you don’t sort this out in the four-year time, you won’t be punished, but the city council will undertake the work required and they will charge you the costs. If your property comprises an old septic tank, it is not a problem. Just wait and see their report. If you intend to install a new septic tank, you may have to fill in an application form (the DIDAA) and wait for local SPANC approval. For any question, just ask your Mairie, as procedure differs from cities and regions. In any case, particular requirements for your septic tank will depend on the size of your property, type of soil, etc. That is why SPANC will assess every tank.
New rules for septic tanks in France