ᐅ Rainwater must be infiltrated on-site without exception.

netuser schrieb:

If infiltration is done on private property, hopefully there won't be any more fees 🙂

You still have a lot to learn. Our municipality applies infiltration trenches using a factor of 0.1 for stormwater management.

WilderSueden schrieb:

You still have a lot to learn. Our municipality uses infiltration trenches with a factor of 0.1 for stormwater.

Oh, okay.
I don’t quite understand the municipality’s logic, but in the wild south, anything seems possible... 😉

WilderSueden schrieb:

Either you have a building plot that is relatively even. Then it doesn’t matter if you move the house by 3 meters (10 feet) or make it 1 meter (3 feet) wider. In that case, you can get the soil survey done early.
Or you have a building plot that varies completely every meter. Then, even with drilling at the corners, you still get surprises when the excavation begins.

Exactly, that’s the crux of the matter :-). I’ll take care of the soil surveyor; I’m quite sure the house will stay where it is currently planned.

netuser schrieb:

Depending on the municipality, you can simply install or register a water meter on the outdoor faucet (for garden use) and end up not paying sewage fees for the water used. In some places, the water supplier will seal it, in others you can just register your own meter and that’s it. These cost a small amount and pay off quite quickly because the costs without the sewage portion are significantly lower.

That’s very interesting, I’ll ask about it!
Theoretically, it should be much simpler though. Why do I have to pay for sewage on rainwater when there is no connection to the sewer for that? It doesn’t make much sense, does it?

netuser schrieb:

That’s why I mentioned earlier that in the end, no one really cares about the actual execution. It’s just an inspection and approval based on documentation. You are responsible for the execution yourself.

When I spoke to the building authority officer on the phone, he said there would be an official acceptance inspection at the end of the project. No idea if that’s true…

motorradsilke schrieb:

We had no inspections at all, and no requirements regarding drainage either. They just said there must be infiltration. No one specified what that should look like and no one cared. We just punctured a few large barrels and buried them. Gravel and geotextile around them, some gravel inside, lid on, done. It worked for 15 years at the old house with a similar roof area, so it should work again now. In really heavy rain it sometimes overflows, then it just soaks into the garden. We also have sandy soil, so it drains quickly.

We also have no direct requirements. We only received a letter from the authority with what I mentioned in my original post. Only on the phone did the officer say we probably couldn’t avoid a cistern. After talking to the builder today, he said it would be strange to say that on the phone, because if a cistern was mandatory, it would have to be mentioned in writing, which it was not.

From this, I conclude that we probably don’t need a cistern, and it was just a preference of the official.

WilderSueden schrieb:

You still have a lot to learn. Our municipality uses soakaway crates with a factor of 0.1 for rainwater management.

I’m exactly expecting nonsense like that…

I’ve done some basic research online and estimate a rough price of around 2,000 for a concrete cistern (>6m3 (over 6,000 liters) including pump and related equipment).

Could someone also roughly estimate what the other costs might be, such as excavation, installation, and so on?

And a somewhat unrelated question: I would prefer not to have something in the ground with a hose sticking out. Is it possible to connect it to an outdoor faucet mounted on the house wall? I wasn’t able to find any solutions like that online.

nokapito schrieb:

Why do I have to pay for stormwater sewage if I don’t have any connection to the sewer system at all? That doesn’t really make sense, does it?

You’re mixing things up a bit. Normally, you don’t have to pay for the water in a rainwater tank, of course.
Earlier, the discussion was solely about the cost-benefit comparison between tap water, well water, and rainwater tanks, for example, for garden irrigation.
I only added that a rainwater tank used exclusively for that purpose is generally not economically worthwhile... With high consumption and over many years, it might be compared to using tap water. However, the latter is usually cheaper if you can avoid paying for the wastewater portion (-> meter).

nokapito schrieb:

When I spoke on the phone with the building authority representative, he said there would be a final inspection at the end of the construction project. I have no idea if that’s true…

There is, of course, an inspection for the construction phase. Usually.
At least in our area, the drainage solution (infiltration system, soakaway, etc.) is not officially inspected. No one really cares about that.

nokapito schrieb:

We didn’t have or have any direct requirements here; we only received a letter from the authority mentioning what I wrote in my original post. Only on the phone did the official say we couldn’t avoid having a rainwater tank.

If the land-use plan (development plan) does not require one, then you can probably avoid it. Maybe the person on the phone confused things (rainwater tank, infiltration system, etc.) or was just expressing a personal opinion for other reasons.

nokapito schrieb:

I’ve done some online research and am estimating a very rough price of about 2,000 euros for a concrete cistern (>6m3 (212 cubic feet) including pump and related equipment).
Can someone also roughly estimate what the rest might cost—for example, excavation, installation, and so on?

On top of the rough 2,000 euros, you’ll need to add transport costs and crane handling on your property.
You can roughly calculate excavation and disposal costs at around 30–40 euros per cubic meter (about 40–53 cubic yards).
Plus the installation—possibly including a foundation depending on the design. In the end, you might be looking at more than 3,000 euros in total.

nokapito schrieb:

And a somewhat unrelated question: I wouldn’t want an object in the ground with a hose sticking out—are there options to connect it to an external tap mounted on the house wall instead? I couldn’t find such a solution online.

A hose coming out of the ground—what don’t you like about something like a “water point” or “water post”?
Otherwise, of course, you can run hoses however you prefer and connect them to a tap on the wall.