Soakaway Adoption

Adoption of a drainage system is the process of handing over the responsibility for maintaining the system to a SUDS Approval Body (SAB). This is often a local authority, highway authority, water utility or a private company.

Usually soakaways within private property serving only a single property or group of properties will remain the responsibility of the landowner. Where soakaways are constructed in the public realm, the SAB will usually adopt the soakaway.

The maintenance of the adopted soakaways will be financed through a system of commuted sums or properly bonded arrangements between the SAB and the developer. There are several model agreements which can be followed including;

• Section 106 of the Town and Conutry Planning Act, 1990
• Section 38 from the Highways Act, 1980

It is critical that these discussions are undertaken at an early stage with the proposed SAB as they can affect the design and construction specifications of the finished soakaway system.

The SAB will typically insist that the soakaway must have been constructed in accordance with the design drawings and specification, to the specified tolerances. If the constructed soakaway does not comply with the specified tolerances an assessment may be necessary to determine whether the soakaway will still perform as required by the design.

The following checklist is taken from the CIRIA SUDS Manual and is a good example of the kind of checks which will be required after the 12 months defect period has expired.