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More than ever in the past few years we have become a nation of clean freaks, with more bleach and cleaning products being used than ever in efforts to limit the chances of catching Corona Virus. Whilst cleanliness and high levels of personal hygiene is never a bad thing not many have considered the effects that excessive cleaning products have on the sewer network.

It would not be unreasonable to think that excessive bleach would in fact help clean your sewage treatment plant, but this is sadly not the case.

Just like your stomach, healthy bacteria are also essential for your sewage treatment plant.

Part of the biological process of your sewage treatment plant is promoting the growth of the health bacteria which in turn help to break down the sewage to improve the overall effluent quality. Unfortunately, once excessive amounts of bleach and cleaning products enter your sewage treatment plant it will have completely corrupted the treatment process.

If the system has been overloaded with cleaning products the damage has now been done, the only true way to rectify the damage is to have the system completed emptied in full. This may even require a wash down to ensure that all of the excess cleaning products have been removed.

Some of the signs that the system has been affected by excess amounts of bleach, washing liquid etc is that the sewage treatment plant may start to emit a foul smell, this is the sign that the treatment process has been compromised and the tank has started to go ‘septic’.

The key to everything is moderation, small amounts of bleach and cleaning products will not kill off all the bacteria in your sewage treatment plant. We always recommend that ‘Septic friendly’ cleaning products are used. One of the products you will frequently see available in the supermarkets is Ecover, they supply a wide variety of eco-friendly products which are safe to use with your septic tank/ sewage treatment plant.

However, even this should be used in moderation. We have however seen a considerable improvement in the efficiency of our customer’s sewage treatment plants when making a simple switch from standard domestic bleach to ‘Eco’ brand.