Septic System Questions (long)

[AndyM]

The installer who put my system in happens to install a lot of these systems with the aerator. By the time the water comes out the other end, it is 90+ percent pure, and that's before it soaks back into the ground.

I believe he installs then where there's not enough room for a traditional tile field. As Daryl said, since it is dumped out onto the ground and then soaks in or evaporates, it wouldn't work in my situation, since it would just lie on the surface.

 

[5030]

Andy:

I have a solution. Just run a pipe right into Lake Milton. Doesn't Akron get it's drinking water from that lake? Akronites will never notice. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[AndyM]

I've talked to a neutral septic installer (one who had nothing to do with this installation) and a civil engineer who deals with septic systems, and they both agree--

I've got REALLY terrible soil conditions. The county where we live gives septic permits for everyone, as long as they get their $350. They were surprised to hear that they failed it, because the county rarely fails septic systems. I have really heavy clay, and the water just sits on top. To make matters worse, I also have the low spot in the front yard, just past the leach field.

They said the problems really aren't due to installation issues, but rather the terrible soil and terrain. Since one of the leach fields worked better than the other, both of them recommended that I use the back field during the wetter periods and the front field in the summer and fall.

Fortunately, when it got saturated, it started flowing into the back field instead of working its way to the surface. I have half a functioning septic system, and once it dries up, the front half should be functioning also.

The rain we experienced this past summer was out of the norm, and we hopefully won't have flooding like this again. However, they both said it is important to dry up the flooded area just beyond the front leach field. That water is what is causing the saturation in my front field, since gravity is causing the water to naturally seek the easiest path to flow.

That being said, since the ditch at the road in front of my house is higher than the water level in the front yard, it's difficult to drain the standing water without pumping it. However, the ditch that runs along the road on the other side is about three feet deep (about two feet deeper than the ditch in front of my house). This would be the perfect way to let gravity get rid of my excess water, but somehow I've got to get a pipe under the road without tearing things up or causing a ruckus among government-type officials.
Any ideas?

 

[AndyM]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Andy:

I have a solution. Just run a pipe right into Lake Milton. Doesn't Akron get it's drinking water from that lake? Akronites will never notice. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif )</font>

Now I'm going to give away exactly where I live. I live about one city block away from Lake Milton, but not in the same county as the lake. The closest sewer and water lines are about 500 feet from my property line, but in a different county and juristiction than where I live. In fact, the ditch on the other side of the road where I would like to run the water is in another county from where I live.


Ah, the joy of living on the county line. When we moved out here and we contracted with a company to pick up our trash, they quoted us a price that was two dollars a month more than the county that is across the road. I told them they could give me the two dollar discount and I would set my trash on the other side of the road each week! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

By the way, the city of Akron gets their water from Lake Rockwell, between Kent and Ravenna. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, they bought up much of the area lakes and reserviors in a three county area. Lake Milton was originally dammed in 1910 from the Mahoning River to supply water to the city of Youngstown, but that is currently supplied by nearby Meander Reservior, which does not allow fishing or boating. Some of the land around Lake Milton is now part up Lake Milton Sate Park, which I think was solely created so the park rangers could hand out endless speeding tickets. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[bky]

rent a boaring mechine and bore a pipe under the road.
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Egon]

Andy:

As someone else has already suggested; bore a hole under the road. Many utility companies do this for installations.

Egon

 

[Currmudgeon]

It sounds like you have conditions that would call for a mound system. That would raise your tile field above the water. Is there a dry area farther away on the property that you can pump to?

As far as getting under the road, check your local Rent-All They may have a small horizontal boring machine that would let you auger under the road.

I suppose you could jury-rig something, and wash bore under the road, but I certainly would shut that down if I caught someone doing that under MY county road.

 

[Junkman]

Have you considered contacting the other community and seeing if they might allow you to hook up to their system if you paid the fees. It might be allowed in a hardship case. I know of a community in MA that didn't have a sewage treatment plant and the neighboring community built one that was going to serve their needs into the next decade. The EPA forced that community to allow the other community to hook up to it since they didn't have one of their own. Now it is over loaded to its max and they need to build another and the cost will be born by the community that put in the original one, not the "leaching" community. When it comes to health issues, boundary lines are not always set in stone! Our town has no sanitary sewers, but was allowed to hook the schools and town hall into the next towns system. We the taxpayers paid for it, but it was a neccessity for health reasons...

 

[AndyM]

See Daryl, at least someone out there likes my wet front yard...

 

[Junkman]

Is it duck hunting season yet?????? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif