It was announced on Radio Kerry that Kerry County Council has begun inspecting septic tanks in the County.
“A minimum of 57 tanks will be inspected in Kerry; with those expected to be completed by Easter. The local authority has selected septic tanks to be inspected on an environmental risk-based process with an emphasis on unregistered properties.
Kerry County Council has established a dedicated unit to ensure all septic tanks are registered. Around 32,000 of the 36,000 septic tanks in the county have been registered”
I would like to bring to your attention a grant scheme to help with the costs if your tank fails inspection.
Septic Tank Grants
The grant scheme will be means tested and will provide financial assistance to households whose septic tanks or other waste water treatment system, require remedial work or upgrading following an inspection.
The first condition of eligibility is that the system must be registered on or before the 1st of February 2013.
The only exception to this are houses that have a treatment system constructed or installed after 1 February 2013 ; in such cases the owners should register their systems within 90 days of the connection of the premises to the treatment system.
The amount of grant available depends on the gross income of the household – but the maximum grant available is going to be €4000 .
For a household with income below €50,000 a year – they will be able to claim back 80% of the approved cost of any work required – up to a maximum of €4,000.
For a household with income between €50,000 and €75000 – they will be able to claim back 50% of the approved cost of any work required – up to a maximum of €2,500.
No assistance will be available to any houshold with income over €75000.
For the purposes of this grant scheme, approved cost means the actual cost or the costs estimated by the local authority to be the reasonable costs of carrying out such works, whichever is the lesser.
Waste water systems that that have not been registered by 1st February will also be subject to inspection. No grant will be available to unregistered systems.
