Larry Caldwell
Super Member
That has been the general belief for at least 50 years. I'm not sure if it's still true because of the prevalence of organic dyes nowadays, but it doesn't hurt to stick with white. My local big box grocery (rural county) doesn't stock anything but white tp. Cellulose is a hydrocarbon, and bacteria have no trouble digesting it to liquid effluent. The lignin is more resistant, but there isn't much lignin in tp. If you eat your vegetables, you are passing a lot of silica through your digestive tract, and silica does not digest. There's no way to avoid periodic pumping.
The real thing to keep out of septics is grease. If the scum layer on top gets too thick it can reach the baffle outlet and run grease into the leach lines. Plugging the leach lines is a big oops.
Some time ago I installed low flush toilets, water saving shower heads, water saving dishwasher and a front loading washer. I also had to replace the old steel tank, so chose a 1500 gallon 2-chamber (1000 gal/500 gal) tank. I dug the leach line out to the first distribution box, which was clear. I figure without abuse the system will last virtually forever. It's an old system near a creek, so the DEQ came and did a tracer dye test. Nothing is making it into the creek. They would never let me install another drain field where this one is, so taking care of the system is a high priority.
