Life in France

A not every day story of normal people trying to live their dream in France starting at the beginning and ending?

Friday, November 26, 2004

A Septic What?

You may recall that earlier I mentioned that we are trying as much as we can to do things in an environmentally friendly way. To this end we have solar panels to heat the hot water and underfloor heating supplemented by a boiler for when the sun don't shine. We have a waste water recycling system which consists of three "ponds" full of different types of plants which filter and clean the water so it can be used to water plants/vegetables and if required top up the domestic water system. We also want to install an eco-toilet system. As we are not on mains drainage you would think that this would be an ideal system. But, this being France of course its not that simple.We are told by the local river authority who have responsibility to ensure water draining from land etc is clean (we nowhere near a river) that we have to install a septic tank! Hey! How the hell we supposed to do that? These things have to be dug into the ground almost 10ft down. Just over 5ft down is solid rock. The only way to install a septic tank would be to make the hole with dynamite! After numerous telephone calls the authority agree to a meeting at the house so we can show them the problem we have and the proposed solution.
They arrive on the due day and after much debate agree that a septic tank would be just about impossible to install. They are however not sure about our proposed toilet system as they have never come across the concept before. Trailblazers that's us! They agree in principle to us installing it as long as we provide them with detailed information on it from the manufacturer and get the mayor to agree that it ok for us to do it, in writing! Its called covering your arse!
fax to Canada to manufacturer produces manuals and brochures which we send off to the authority with the letter from the mayor. Two months later we get a letter back, in triplicate signed by everybody and the office mouse saying we can install the system but they reserve the right to visit at any time to inspect it to make sure it complies with spec. Issued by manufacturer. Hooray, at last I can start installing toilets in the house........

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