Soakaway Design and Construction – an overview

The purpose of a soakaway is very simple.As the name suggests a soakaway disposes of rainwater runoff through infiltration into the surrounding soils, that is, the water is allowed to soak away.In almost all cases the rate at which the water is able to infiltrate into the soil is much slower than the rate at which rainwater runoff is collected.

For this reason a soakaway must include a chamber large enough to store the excess rainwater allowing it to slowly disperse into the ground between storm events.While the principles of soakaway design are very simple, the design of a soakaway is not straightforward. This is particularly the case when the size or shape of the soakaway must be optimised for economic reasons or due to limitations in the space available.