Phoning around for soakaway in Kimberley takes time, and every company asks the same questions. Send one job card instead and we pass it to drainage contractors and septic installers who serve Kimberley and nearby areas of Northern Cape. They quote on the work, travel, disposal and how soon they can come.
Soakaways in Kimberley
Soakaway work in Kimberley is mostly booked by owners of plots, farms and older houses where a septic tank is the only option. Share the number of people, the tank size and whether the ground is sandy, clay or rocky, so contractors serving Kimberley and the rest of Northern Cape can quote accurately.
Want to know more first? Our soakaway guide covers the options, what to check and what affects the price.
Septic tanks and drainage in Kimberley
Kimberley is an old diamond town on a dry plain, and its mainly sewered suburbs such as Hadison Park and Beaconsfield contrast with outlying farms, smallholdings and settlements that use septic tanks or conservancy tanks. Rainfall is low, so soils stay dry, but calcrete, hard rock and old mine workings make excavation slow and soakaway trenches difficult. Old mining ground and ageing pipes cause sewer blockages that residents often mistake for septic problems. Guesthouses and farms toward Barkly West and Ritchie need regular pump-outs. Honey sucker operators serve the area from Kimberley, with long drives to remote farms across the Karoo-like plain.
Typical soakaway requests in the area come from:
- Houses: a new or rebuilt soakaway for an older house whose pit has clogged or flooded
- Farms and game farms: building pits at homesteads and worker housing, kept well clear of boreholes and dams
- Restaurants, shops and offices: pits for rural shops, filling stations and restaurants that are not on a sewer
- Smallholdings and plots: a larger pit or two linked pits on a smallholding with space but heavy clay soil
- Schools, churches and clinics: large pits for schools, clinics and churches, designed for heavy daytime use
- Lodges, guesthouses and venues: larger or multiple pits that cope with peak guest numbers and seasonal overloading
- Factories, mines, sites and events: pits for site offices, depots and ablutions, sized for the number of workers
Local tips for Kimberley
In Kimberley, the most common systems are conservancy tanks and septic tanks on remote farms, drain clearing in old suburbs. Operators and suppliers mostly work from honey sucker operators and drainage contractors in Kimberley. A useful tip: ask whether your blockage is the tank or the municipal line before paying for a pump-out.
Soakaways usually means dig a pit, fill it with stone or fit chambers, for 2 to 3 m across, 1.5 to 2.5 m deep, check yearly, lasts 15 to 25 years. Ground in the area: calcrete and hard rock near the surface: trenching is slow and costly.
What to include in your request
- Number of people using the system and the tank size in litres
- Whether this is a new soakaway or a repair of an old one
- Soil type and whether a percolation test has been done
- Distance to buildings, boreholes, streams and boundaries
- Stone pit, rubble pit or chamber, if you have a preference
The more detail you give, the more accurate your quote will be.
Service area: Kimberley and surrounds
Operators, contractors and suppliers on our network work in Kimberley and surrounding areas, including Galeshewe, Roodepan, Ritchie, Barkly West, Hadison Park, Beaconsfield. Give the suburb, holding or farm name so the quote can include travel, and say how soon you need someone.