What is the difference between a septic tank and a cesspool?
Septic tanks are used where this is no public sewer available. They work on the principle of breaking down solids by anaerobic bacteria in an enclosed chamber. The final purification of the liquid is in a filter bed. The effluent is sometimes discharged into a humus chamber, which allows the unstable material from the filter to settle. The water resulting from the process then passes into a soakaway. Water from a septic tank should not be discharged into a ditch, stream, river or pond. Cesspools are used where there is no public sewer available and where the sub soil cannot soak away the liquid from a septic tank, or if there is no suitable stream or river to take the final effluent from a processing plant. They are simply a large enclosed chamber to collect the effluent, which is then removed on a regular basis and taken to a sewerage treatment works. Cesspools are considered to be a last resort for dealing with sewerage. How much does it cost to empty a cesspool or septic tank. This
