‘Go Green’ is a phrase getting popular among the people today. Many are willing to take that one extra step to help save the environment, because they know that the efforts of even one person can make a huge difference. It is small efforts like these that help sustain our world in the midst of heavy industry pollutions, irresponsible waste disposal and unethical, profit-hungry businesses.

However, there is a chance that we may be generating such dangerous pollution ourselves. There is a blind spot that many of us tend to miss - underground, or in this case, our sewerage system.

In some of the older homes, there is no direct pipe connection to the sewerage operators. Instead, septic tanks are used to store everything that goes down our drains and toilet bowls. Septic tanks basically separate the sludge and water in our sewage to a certain degree, then releases the water back into the environment, while the sludge is stored inside the septic tank.

Of course, the capacity of these septic tanks is not unlimited. When the collected sludge reaches a certain level, the water flowing out to the environment won’t just be ‘slightly polluted’. Poisonous chemicals from your detergents, human waste with dangerous bacteria, and everything else that goes down your sink would start flowing out.

Remember that drain in front of your house? That’s where the overflowing sewage would most likely go, and it will stay there if there is no rain or water flow to wash it away. It may sound disgusting, but that is still the lesser of two evils. If the waste is washed off your drains, chances are, it will eventually flow directly into our rivers, which is the source of our tap water.

In order to prevent this from happening, one needs to call for desludging services. Unlike 10 years ago, you will no longer receive notices saying that it is time to desludge your septic tank. People will now need to take it upon themselves to find and hire the desludging companies that service their area. On the plus side, consumers can now choose which companies they want to use. Unfortunately, most people have already forgotten about the need to desludge altogether.

Desludging needs to be done once every three years, therefore it is perfectly understandable if someone forgets to desludge after such a huge gap. Some people do not even know if their houses are using septic tanks, while others refuse to desludge because they feel that the fees are too expensive. However, since we only need to pay once every three years, the fees are actually quite cheap when compared to a monthly bill.

Due to all the dangers to public health and the environment, people are advised to desludge according to schedule. Please check if your home uses a septic tank, and if you are, please remember to desludge at least once every three years. Remember to tell your neighbuors too, or their waste will flow to your house!

NAH KOK WAI is research and policy executive, Forum Air Malaysia.