Septic services in St Ives & Hayle & surrounding rural parishes
Around St Ives and Hayle the Towednack and Zennor moorland farms and the coastal hamlets of the north Penwith shore are off-mains, served by private septic tanks and soakaways.
What we can arrange around St Ives & Hayle
Kernow Septic is a local guide and enquiry service — we put you in touch with firms covering St Ives & Hayle and handle the checking that comes first. How it works.
Emptying & servicing Most requested
Scheduled emptying and servicing for tanks and treatment plants near St Ives & Hayle.
Repairs
Backups, blockages and failed soakaways put right.
Treatment plant upgrades
Upgrades where a septic tank no longer meets the rules.
Nearby areas
The local picture around St Ives & Hayle
Since 1 January 2020 a septic tank must not discharge directly to a watercourse — around St Ives & Hayle that means the Hayle estuary and the Red River, reaching the sea at Gwithian. A tank that still does needs upgrading to a treatment plant or a drainage field, and it usually surfaces at the point of sale. How the discharge rules work →
The Environment Agency designates 8 bathing waters on this stretch of coast — Porthmeor, Porthminster, Porthgwidden, Carbis Bay, Porthkidney Sands, Hayle Towans, Gwithian Towans and Godrevy Towans . Private drainage in these catchments is monitored accordingly, and siting near protected waters affects what you can install. Look any beach up on the EA's bathing water profiles .
Two extremes in one district: granite moorland above St Ives and Zennor, where thin soil over hard rock drains poorly, and the dune sand ('towans') around Hayle, which can drain too freely to give sewage the treatment contact time a drainage field design assumes. Eight designated bathing waters ring this stretch of coast. What a percolation test involves → · BGS geology viewer
Not sure if your system is compliant?
Since 2020 the Environment Agency's General Binding Rules ban septic tanks discharging straight to a watercourse. Run your setup through our free checker to see where you stand near St Ives & Hayle.
Run the free compliance check