When you hire a tanker, you are paying for two things: the emptying of your tank, and the legal disposal of what came out of it. The first is visible. The second happens out of sight, and it is the part that comes back to bite property owners when a tanker company cuts corners. This guide explains the proper route, so you know what to expect and what to ask for.
Collection at the property
The tanker parks as close to the tank as access allows, and the crew runs a suction hose to the tank's access cover or the manhole. The tank is pumped out — properly, including the settled solids, if it is a cleaning visit rather than just an emptying — and the hose is withdrawn and stowed. The load is now sealed inside the tanker. A 5,000-gallon tanker holds one load; larger tanks take more than one tanker or more than one trip.
Transport
Sewage and wastewater may only be transported by tankers that hold a wastewater transport permit from Sharjah Municipality, driven by appropriately licensed heavy-vehicle drivers. The load travels sealed from the property to the treatment plant. A permitted tanker does not stop to discharge anywhere on the way, and should never be seen emptying into a storm drain, an open area or a wadi. If you ever see that happen, it is illegal discharge, whoever the company is.
Disposal at the treatment plant
In Sharjah, tankered sewage and wastewater is discharged at the Sharjah Municipality sewage treatment plant in Al Sajaa. The plant receives the load, and the tanker operator is issued a discharge receipt recording it. From there the wastewater goes through the municipal treatment process; the tanker company's responsibility ends when the load is legally received.
The plant decides what it will accept. Domestic sewage, kitchen wastewater and general wash-down water are routine. Anything containing oils, chemicals, solvents or hazardous industrial waste is a different waste stream and must be declared, because it cannot simply go into the sewage plant. A responsible tanker company will ask what the water is before accepting a job, and will tell you honestly if they cannot take it.
The receipt, and why you should ask for it
The discharge receipt from the treatment station is your proof that the contents of your tank were disposed of legally. For a villa owner it is peace of mind. For a facility manager, a camp operator or a main contractor it is a compliance document that inspectors and clients ask to see. AL NISR DRAINAGE provides the receipt for any load on request; if a tanker company cannot produce one, ask yourself where the load went.
How to check a tanker company before you hire one
- Are they licensed for the activity? AL NISR DRAINAGE holds a Sharjah Economic Development Department professional licence for the collection and transport of sewage water, number 795303.
- Do their tankers carry Sharjah Municipality wastewater transport permits?
- Will they provide the discharge receipt from the treatment plant?
- Are they insured? Our work is covered by third-party liability insurance.
- Will they tell you honestly what they can and cannot take?
Those five questions take a minute to ask and they separate a legitimate operator from someone with a truck. For our own service, see sewage water removal and wastewater removal across Sharjah, and our Sajaa page for the area around the plant itself.