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MID VALLEY SEPTICS

Onsite Wastewater Design for Unsewered Properties on the Mid North Coast

If your property isn’t connected to town sewer, nothing gets built until council signs off on how you’ll treat and dispose of wastewater. That sign-off starts with a design. Mid Valley Septics designs onsite wastewater systems for new homes, renovations, granny flats, rural properties and small commercial sites across the Mid North Coast, and then installs them ourselves. Septics and wastewater is all we do, so the design is prepared by the same people who build it. That keeps it practical, buildable and approved.

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25+ years experience
Licensed plumber & electrician
Preferred install & service agents
Licence 470767C
Wastewater Design

What Is Onsite Wastewater Design?

Onsite wastewater design is the engineering and planning work that decides what type of system suits your property, how big it needs to be and where the treated effluent will go. A good wastewater system design is based on evidence from your site, not a standard drawing. It takes in your soil, slope, groundwater, flood potential, available space, setbacks to boundaries, waterways and bores, and how many people the system has to serve. The result is a design your council can assess and approve, and that keeps working long after construction is finished.
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Our Wastewater Design Process

1. Site & Soil Selection

 We assess your property against AS/NZS 1547, the national standard for onsite domestic wastewater management. We look at slope, drainage, groundwater, flood potential, fill, surface rock and vegetation, and we test the soil in the proposed disposal area (and a reserve area where council requires one) to see how well it will absorb effluent.

Based on what the site tells us, we recommend the system that genuinely suits it, whether that’s a septic tank and trench system, an aerated wastewater treatment system (AWTS), a sand filter system or another option, and we explain why the alternatives were ruled out.
We size the system for the number of bedrooms and occupants, position the tank, treatment unit and effluent disposal area, and check setbacks and buffer distances.
We prepare a design report and plans in a form your council can assess, aligned with AS/NZS 1547 and the NSW Government’s on-site sewage management guidelines.
We prepare and lodge the Section 68 application under the Local Government Act 1993 and deal with council’s questions, so you aren’t left chasing paperwork.
Because we install what we design, there’s no handover gap between designer and installer.
IS IT RIGHT FOR YOU?

Who Needs a Wastewater Design?

Owners building a new home on unsewered land
Builders and developers preparing a development application (DA)
Owners adding bedrooms, a granny flat or a second dwelling to an existing septic system
Buyers of rural land who want to know what the block can support before they commit
Owners of failing or outdated systems who need to upgrade or replace
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Designed Around Your Site, Not a Template

The same house can need a completely different system on two different blocks. A tight lot with clay soil, a flat river block with a high water table and a sloping rural property with good drainage each call for a different answer. Constraints we regularly design around include:

  • Clay or shallow soils that won’t absorb effluent
  • High water tables and flood-affected land
  • Steep slopes
  • Small lots with limited space
  • Creeks, dams, bores and other nearby water sources
  • Sensitive coastal and catchment environments

Where a conventional system won’t work, we look at alternatives that treat effluent to a higher standard or make better use of limited space, such as AWTS and sand filter systems.

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Why Choose Mid Valley Septics for Wastewater Design

  • Designers and installers in one in-house team, with no subcontracting and no gap between design and build
  • A licensed plumber and electrician on the team, which matters for pumps, alarms and aerated systems
  • 25+ years of experience across the Mid North Coast
  • Free, no-obligation quotes and honest advice on what your property actually needs

Thinking of Buying Land? Get the Design Done First

A block can look perfect and still be difficult to sewer. Before you buy, a site and soil evaluation can tell you what kind of system the land can support, so there are no surprises when you come to build.
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Service Areas

Council Approval Across the Mid North Coast

Where your property is decides who assesses your design. We prepare designs for properties across Coffs Harbour City Council, Nambucca Valley Council, Kempsey Shire Council, Port Macquarie-Hastings Council and MidCoast Council areas, and we’re familiar with how each handles on-site sewage applications. Installing or altering a system needs Section 68 approval, and operating one needs an approval to operate. A design prepared with your council’s requirements in mind avoids rounds of requests for more information.

Coffs Harbour

Nambucca Heads

Valla Beach

Bowraville

Taylors Arm

Woolgoolga

Kempsey

Port Macquarie

Taree

QUESTIONS

Frequently Asked Questions

Get clear, reliable answers from the experts. 

Have More Questions?

What's the difference between a wastewater design and a septic system installation?

The design is the planning stage: the site and soil evaluation, system selection, sizing, drawings and council application. The installation is building what was designed. We do both, so the two stages fit together.
Often, yes. Adding bedrooms or a second dwelling can exceed what your existing system was designed to handle, and council will usually want to see that it can cope. Requirements vary by council, so it’s worth checking early.
It’s the Australian and New Zealand standard for onsite domestic wastewater management. Councils and designers use it as the basis for assessing a site and designing a system.

Yes. A site and soil evaluation before purchase shows what the block can support.

We do. We prepare and lodge the Section 68 application and respond to council’s questions.

MID VALLEY SEPTICS

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Reach out to our expert team for dedicated local service, expert engineering, and compliant installations.

  • Call Direct: 0402 824 153
  • Hours: Mon - Fri: 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • 24/7 Support Available for Emergencies

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