My septic field appears to be somewhat clogged. Is there anything I can do except replace it for $25K? The grass around the edge is wonderful though, lol! Can I buy 2 tons of earth worms or something like that to fix it?
We are careful with what we put down the system, and I had it pumped last fall and the tank was totally alive and wriggling with what looked like small worms, and the guy said it looked great. But still the field is annoying me and I don't want my township to notice it leaking. There are a few black streaks on the side which are visible to the roadside if one looks carefully.
Maybe I can reseed the grass there carefully, and have it lush and green to eat up all the leakage?
How long have you lived there? It's not uncommon in Winter and Spring for some leach fields to become damp. Ask your neighbors if you are new to the area. What your local government allows in the way of repair or replacement is up to the local government. Try e-mailing them your questions in an anonymous fashion.
Unlikely clogged, although I never heard of wiggly things in tank. Soil most likely saturated as water tables can be high in the spring thaw. When mine first came up, we had dirt put on it but that did not solve problem so we put in an alternate field. Now if one gets wet, I switch to the other one. Someone said they tend to saturate due to salt build up and need to recover. Don't think you can put in a septic around here today without an alternate field. I would imagine today it should cost a lot less than 25 grand.
Might also mention that it was not beyond my builder to fake perk test. He did it on another house he built and homeowner sued and got put into sewer service at great expense to builder. I also sued builder, in part over septic, but that's another story.
If the leach field is saturated, you're pretty much at limit of what can do. If the septic tank was full of some sort of critter, I'd suspect they're the culprit and have clogged the laterals, particularly if the breakout is at an end as I think you're saying. If that is so, it indicates the water is flowing down the laterals and is pooling at the ends and saturating the ground there rather than being absorbed along the way.
It may dry out during hot, dry weather on the surface, but there's no way any vegetation can use up the water from a full septic field unless it is a very aggressive grower that you won't want because it's roots will just make more trouble than problems they cure.
Somebody else mentioned adding a second field -- if you have the room, that is most likely the least expensive approach. We did the same and were able to switch between the two indefinitely. Of course, that the kids grew up and weren't doing as much laundry, etc., didn't hurt, either! :)
You could research sand piles and other alternatives, but I suspect unless you can't for some reason, the new field is the cheapest out. You will have to talk to local health and is probably best to be proactive rather than wait for somebody to call you on it (like the neighbor who gets tired of the odor/runoff and calls the county without letting you know he's going to).
NO living creature other than yeast, bacteria and possibly viruses can live in a septic tank environment. Something is wrong with your tank other than your field leaking. I think they are all related. Get someone who knows to check it out properly.
It cost me $1800, though I have fairly short lines. This company gave a 1 year guarrantee which was:
If my lines failed they would come out and redo the process - but really, if the lines failed again within a year, I think a redo might be pointless.
0 toward installation to new leach lines.Unfortuanely, not an option with our place.
As to why it is banned in some places, I haven't seen what appeared to be a logical explanation.
I was very skeptical, but out of options other than a new 30K sand system. I should point out that since this experience, we follow all the rules with having a septic system.I was very ignorant on the topic.
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