Is it necessary to desludge your septic tank?

IWK employees carrying out an important task of desludging septic tanks.

ALTHOUGH Malaysia has made rapid progress in the sewerage industry, reflected in the vast connected network, certain areas in our country are still unconnected to the sewerage network, adopting traditional systems such as the individual septic tank (IST) and the communal septic tank (CST). Currently, there are approximately 1.35 million septic tanks in the country, while traditional systems such as troughs and latrines are estimated to be around 870,000.

An individual septic tank is a tank that is located underground, either on the front, back or side of the house. Septic tanks that comply with the standards stipulated serve as a tank that collects wastewater from a house and has a limited treatment capacity. The main purpose is only to collect wastewater from daily activities at home such as bathing, laundry cleaning or dishwashing, and toilet usage. As wastewater is collected in the septic tank, coarse and heavy particles will settle at the bottom of the tank, forming sludge while clean water will flow out from the surface of the tank to the drain or ditch.