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It is important to know your system and how it works. Your septic system cannot simply be installed and forgotten, even when new. Here is a simple explanation of how your system operates and why it is important.
Contents in the septic tank from your home include three layers: 1) Floating scum layer, usually including soaps, greases, toilet paper; 2) Liquid layer, normally the water, liquid and suspended solids; 3) Sludge, the heavy organic and inorganic materials at the bottom of the tank. Bacteria in the sewage (wastewater) work to break down organic matter in the tank in what is called a "primary treatment". Remember, pathogens in the waste is not destroyed. In the tank, the wastewater is simply prepared for final treatment in your drainfield, commonly called a "leach" bed or field. The septic tank is only the first step in the wastewater treatment process.
The soil in your leachfield is the final, critical, treatment for your wastewater once solids have been broken down in the tank. When working properly, the soil "treatment" system must be of uncompacted, unsaturated, undisturbed soil. Soil treatment removes nutrients and kills disease-causing organisms in the sewage through the use of naturally occurring beneficial microscopic organisms. Wastewater is delivered to the field usually in a series of trenches or mounds. A problem with systems near a lake is the usually high water table. There must be a zone of unsaturated soil below the drainfield providing air for the bacteria to thrive and provide complete treatment.
You can see that a drainfield must be of ample size to permit proper treatment in unsaturated soil. Magnifying the problem for lake residents include overuse by doing many loads of laundry in a single day, water softeners that frequently recharge into the septic system, continuously running toilets, poor soil, heavy rains, and more. All of these contribute to saturated drainfields on small lots (20,000 square feet or less) that can prevent the septic system from operating properly.
Lake residents where the natural water table is high may be required to install a mound system which may provide more percolation through about 24 additional inches of material before reaching native soil. At the same time, lake residents need to practice much more household water conservation than do those who reside elsewhere, or who are connected to a municipal disposal system of some kind.
Once a drainfield is saturated or filled with solids at a lakeside home, a new field may not be possible due to lot size limitations, a critically important fact.
PUMP YOUR TANK ANNUALLY!
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