Septic drain field issue

[dodge man]

What gets spread on fields has been treated and is the final by product of a sewer treatment plant. I’m about 99% sure it’s not legal to dump or spread untreated human waste of fields.

Most places, in our area it’s a county health department, require an inspection of septic systems. The question is will anybody see you working on it. If it’s an older system it might not meet current standards. The do a perc test to see how the soil absorbs water and that is how the size of the drain field is determined. There are other systems available, sand filter, bubblers, stirrers etc. some of these require no drain field but use electricity.

 

[Ford850]

The sludge is causing long lasting problems to farms who spread it. PFAS chemicals from the sludge are now found in milk, water, and even crops from those farms. It's putting some of the farms out of business and property labeled as contaminated with few solutions.

 

[3Ts]

The sludge usually contains heavy metals so will limit what you can grow with it. It'll be fine for a lawn, but I wouldn't use it for anything with a crop for human consumption.

 

[kcflhrc]

I had old tree roots in my drain field a couple years back. I dug up the T where it goes north and south and could see the clog immediately. I augered it out and then put a vertical clean out in it between the tank and drain field so I could dump root killer in it every year. Never a problem since. Hopefully the issue doesn't come back and yes I have taken out that tree. Mine is all gravity, no pump.

 

[rangerfredbob]

My system was apparently put in in April of 2009 or shortly after. I'm not at home so don't have the paper in front of me but it's like 253' from the dosing tank to the first box. I don't remember if I mentioned it but the leach field is rock and pipe.

 

[Ford850]

So, your dosing tank shows no wet areas, and then 250' away you have your first field junction box and that is wet at that box? And and the second junction box too? Are there any trees in that area of the junction boxes and field?

 

[Zippo1]

I don't want this as a project yet so posted it here... I wasn't wanting to know about this issue, but here it goes...

I have a septic system for the house, one 1000 gallon tank with a 470 gallon "dosing" tank with a pump on the outlet with floats since the drain field is higher than the tanks. I was out on a gopher walk (with shotgun, too hot but gotta keep an eye on where they are at least, I've been lucky before... I spooked one with a trap so he's skiddish now) and walked over the drain field and inconveniently noticed a wet spot with water flowing that I could hear. From the rough hand drawn sketch I have of the drain field there are 3 rows of drain line and the area I saw water would be at one of the concrete junction boxes

So, how screwed am I? I saw that and my stomach dropped and saw dollar signs...

Aside from keeping it mowed I don't drive anything big over the drain field (or try not to), unfortunately before I moved in the people that were leasing the field next to me put wheat on that acre area, not sure what they used to work it up but could have been a chisel disc... it's leaking in a concentrated area though, I've never noticed it being overly wet there before.

If it is just a broken junction, is this a DIY project to fix the pipe?

I had a similar issue with our drain field. I was mowing it with a walk behind mower one day and first noticed the odor. Then I found a couple of holes in the ground similar to uncovered mole holes. Coincidentally, the tank started pumping and fluid came up out of the holes and spread on the ground. I had a septic company come and assess and, like yours, they said that the field was plugged with biomass and no longer draining.

They gave me the number of another company. I explained the issue to the fellow over the phone and he came out with a very large air compressor mounted on a trailer. he first probed for the drain lines and then marked them with little metal flags. He then started the compressor and pushed the small diameter pipe into the ground. He opened a valve on the pipe and air flowed into the ground and you could see it visibly raise in about a 2 - 3 foot circle around his pipe. He worked over the whole drain field in this manner. He said that the idea was that the lifting of the biomass with the compressed air tended to break it up and, sure enough, our drain field began draining again.

He also explained some of the home owner (me) behaviors that contribute to causing the biomass problem. Using a garbage disposal, too much effluent to the field per day, chlorine bleach type products in the toilet tanks. We changed our use of the system and did not have another problem in the 15 years we lived there after the treatment. I think it was well worth the $2,000 we paid to have the work done.

Here's a youtube video showing a process similar to what we had done:

Restoring a septic system through aeration - YouTube

 

[Ford850]

I had a similar issue with our drain field. I was mowing it with a walk behind mower one day and first noticed the odor. Then I found a couple of holes in the ground similar to uncovered mole holes. Coincidentally, the tank started pumping and fluid came up out of the holes and spread on the ground. I had a septic company come and assess and, like yours, they said that the field was plugged with biomass and no longer draining.

They gave me the number of another company. I explained the issue to the fellow over the phone and he came out with a very large air compressor mounted on a trailer. he first probed for the drain lines and then marked them with little metal flags. He then started the compressor and pushed the small diameter pipe into the ground. He opened a valve on the pipe and air flowed into the ground and you could see it visibly raise in about a 2 - 3 foot circle around his pipe. He worked over the whole drain field in this manner. He said that the idea was that the lifting of the biomass with the compressed air tended to break it up and, sure enough, our drain field began draining again.

He also explained some of the home owner (me) behaviors that contribute to causing the biomass problem. Using a garbage disposal, too much effluent to the field per day, chlorine bleach type products in the toilet tanks. We changed our use of the system and did not have another problem in the 15 years we lived there after the treatment. I think it was well worth the $2,000 we paid to have the work done.

Here's a youtube video showing a process similar to what we had done:

Restoring a septic system through aeration - YouTube

That's impressive!

 

[BrokenTrack]

What gets spread on fields has been treated and is the final by product of a sewer treatment plant. I知 about 99% sure it痴 not legal to dump or spread untreated human waste of fields.

Nope...it is untreated. It is the sludge that they cannot get rid of, that is why it is free and are more than happy to truck it 100 miles away.

As I said, I cannot blame them, it has to go somewhere, cleaning up 99% is great, but it is not all of it, and after awhile that 1% amounts to a big problem, but I do not want it on me!

They have a plant close by now, and it processes that 1%. They take it and compost it, then they mix the compost with sand, and then the state MeDOT takes the mix and use it for "loam" on highway projects. It is an expensive option because that if a for profit company, instead of just farmers taking the human waste. But it is the same old thing: take something no one wants, and turn it into something they do (loam).

 

[jaydee325]

I'm curious, what does spreading human poop on fields have to do with rangerfredbob's drain field problem.:mur:

I for one would like this discussion to continue on point so we can learn something about septic drain fields.