Go Hard or Go Home: The Advantages of Replacing Your Plastic Stormwater Pits With Concrete Pits

A sturdy, reliable stormwater pit is a vital component in any large scale water management systems, and is vital for preventing flooding and water-logging on both private and commercial land. However, many stormwater pits are pre-fabricated affairs made from plastics, and while these pits are adequate at performing their function, they are hardly the most durable pieces of plumbing equipment around.

Consequently, many landowners choose to have their plastic stormwater pits replaced with concrete stormwater pits. These concrete pits can be pre-cast or constructed in place, and provide a number of attractive advantages over plastic stormwater pits that can make them well worth the extra investment:

Durability

While even the strongest plastic stormwater pits will degrade and collapse over time, concrete pits are a far more durable prospect. Even a small, basic concrete pit can be expected to last decades with little or no maintenance, giving you peace of mind that your stormwater pits will always be in working order when they are most badly needed.

Strength

Concrete also far outstrips plastic in terms of load-bearing strength, and a concrete stormwater pit is capable of supporting a great deal more weight from earth placed around and on top of it. This allows concrete pits to be built larger and buried deeper than their plastic counterparts, increasing the maximum capacity of your water pits and minimising the chances of your pit becoming overwhelmed by extreme weather conditions.

This increased load-bearing strength means that concrete pits are also capable of withstanding heavy weights (such as heavy good vehicles) passing overhead. This is a particularly useful quality if you are upgrading the stormwater pits on a busy commercial or industrial site and allows pits to be placed close to roads with confidence.

Capacity

Even the largest, most expensive plastic water pits are somewhat limited in size and capacity, due to the limitations of the materials itself and the manufacturing processes used to create the pits. Concrete stormwater pits can be constructed with enormous capacities capable of controlling heavy rainstorms and even limited flash flooding, ensuring that your site is protected from all but the worst meteorological mishaps.

Versatility

While plastic stormwater pits are generally available in a very limited array of sizes and shapes, concrete stormwater pits can be cast to order. This allows you to create stormwater pits in unusual shapes and sizes, a very useful advantage if your subterranean space is crowded with cables, water pipes and other immovable obstacles. Having your pit cast on-site is an option offered by many concrete pit makers, and will ensure that the pit you choose is suitable for the space it is to be placed in.

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