My mind is put at ease. Once again thank you for your help and kindness. I hope I can return the gesture. Kind regards
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You have a good answer. This is going on all over France now, and any houses out in the country will have to add a second fosse septic eventually, even if your original system is perfectly fine. We recently sold our country house, and were given an estimate of between 5 and 8 thousand euros to do that work, thus we deducted it from our selling price for the buyers. I doubt that most people living in the countryside can afford this, though.
Only if it doesnāt conform to the new rules. I put a new FS in in 2001 and it conforms to the new law so no worries.
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Nancyā¦ if the fosse conformsā¦ there is no way that it would need to be replaced.
Sometimes rain water passes through an older fosseā¦ nowadays that would need to be redirectedā¦ sometimes/often an older fosse would not have a grease-trap and this now needs to be in placeā¦
All sorts of minor actions may or may-not be necessaryā¦and each situation will be different.
One major problem is when the run-off contaminates the soil,. This may be due to misdirected pipeworkā¦ or a too-small a fosseā¦
The old fosse, perfect in its dayā¦ will possibly now be of insufficient size to cope with modern-day laundry/bathroom/showers/toiletsā¦
The modern quantities of waste water are often too great for the older fosseā¦ and so the waste-water flows on, into the soil, without allowing the normal action/reaction of the fosse to play its important part at ācleaningā the water before it flows outā¦ 
As I have saidā¦ every case is individualā¦ 
Thank you for your kind offer to contact them for us. I can call them Monday and get a date arrange. You have beyond helpful Stella. Kind regards
Iām always pleased to help, if I canā¦ 
Interesting thread. Our Fosse is small but it only takes the human waste. All the grey water, including rainwater runoff, goes straight into the stream at the bottom of the garden. When we had our visit, we were told this had to be replaced with a new 3000L Fosse & soak-away which involved removing a tree and would cost 10K, reduced to 4.5K with grants. I explained that, as a pensioner, this was out of the question. They gave me 4 years to do the work, which expired last November. I havenāt hear anything since but there is no way I can stump up 4.5K. However, Iāve since discovered that a micro-filter, (@ 4K), which is basically a very large box stuffed full of coconut fibre, can be placed between the house and the stream to effectively strain the grey water. When I mentioned this to the SPANC guy, this was rubbished - I have a sneaking suspicion he may have an arrangement with a local drainage contractor. I have heard of a neighbour who was informed that if he didnāt get it done, heād be fined ā¬140 pa. His attitude was, fine, thatās cheaper than finding 10K. Iāve also been advised that SPANC cannot actually force you to get the work done (how can they if you donāt have the money ?) In the meantime, my little Fosse Septique is doing what itās supposed to do perfectly well and the stream at the bottom of the garden is bung full of fish.
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I honestly have no idea whether or not your SPANC guy is on the level.
I can only speak from my own experiences with SPANC over the past 20 yearsā¦( when I have been involved to help non-French speakersā¦)
During this time, I have found SPANC to be most helpfulā¦
At first, I would check/talk through a SPANC report with my friends at the Mairieā¦ and as my confidence in SPANC grew, I have referred to them less and less.
As you rightly sayā¦ if there is no moneyā¦ then nothing can be paid. I think there might be help for low-income folk, but am not up to speed on that angleā¦
There is, indeed, a small reduction if your income is below a certain level. However it is a very SMALL reduction and, anyway, my income is higher than the cut-off. (Having said that, who knows where the exchange rate is going to go now ?). There does seem to be a perception in France that ex-pats are loaded. While some undoubtedly are, most arenāt. My daughters French ex-boyfriend was convinced that I was flush - after all, I run a BMW ? (2001 model E46). :-))
I agree with everything youāve mentioned. However, ours had been checked for the last ten years, and we passed every time, never a problem. We had proper aeration and drainage. Now, suddenly, there is a new law, saying that we HAVE to have a second fosse septic, no matter what the situation, and supposedly everyone in France, with septic tanks, will. Since there were only 2 people occupying the house, there was no actual need for more, IMO. It took 3 years at least to require emptying it. Now that I think about it, we only needed to empty it 3 times in the 10 years we were there!
Now, Iām even more relieved that weāre living in town, and donāt have to think about it, anymore.
Wowā¦ that sounds really toughā¦
Not heard the like around hereā¦ there will be revolution when/if it arrives.
Like you, I am relieved to no longer be relying on a fosseā¦ we were on one for 27 years in UKā¦ and started here with a āsort-ofā fosse. Now on mains drainageā¦ it comes at a cost, but worth every penny.
I agree with you on the expat perception. We were only able to get here due to extreme frugality throughout our whole lives. Save, save, save. To be honest, we not only have no desire whatsoever to return to the States, we wouldnāt be able to afford living there, anyway. Even the pension weāre receiving now would be considered poverty level, over there., whereas, here, we are spending less than we receive, without even trying. We have no debts, we eat out, we travel, we pay utilities, and habitation taxes, of course, and not being stingy with ourselves anymore. On another upside, we never owe income taxes, haha. I certainly donāt want to give the US so much as a dime!