Teach Me: Rural Septic Tanks

foxtrapper wrote: Chuckle, Hampstead vs Carroll county, Carroll county vs MDE. It's entertaining, to say the least.

Yeah, I have a friend who lives over that way. I'm just glad I live in Frederick County.

I'm pretty confident answering your question with a direct and emphatic "NO", but the County Health Department will be the ones making the final determination.

Call them. Even if he is a nice guy. Whether or not you buy it.

...ESPECIALLY if he is a nice guy. It's easy to rat out azzhats.

You are not the bad guy by reporting it.

Hal wrote:

foxtrapper wrote: Chuckle, Hampstead vs Carroll county, Carroll county vs MDE. It's entertaining, to say the least.

Yeah, I have a friend who lives over that way. I'm just glad I live in Frederick County.

Shoot, lets talk trash incinerator then!

Every state is a little different, but in general, the lowest part of any system needs to be 3 to 4 feet above the highest anticipated ground water level. Ground also needs to perk at a certain rate. Too fast is just as bad as too slow. If you have a low enough ground water level, it usually just involves removing unacceptable materials down 3 to 4 feet under the leaching field, installing a tank, a distribution box and a leaching field, then filling in and covering with layers of stone and sand. If your ground water is too high, then the leaching field needs to be elevated. This is called a pump up system. Looks like a big mound. There will be a pump in the tank that lifts the liquid waste into the field. Usually pumps several hundred gallons at a wack and deluges the leaching field to insure uniform distribution. These get real expensive quick.

Your neighbor has a peat biofilter, probably an Ecoflow. In some areas they are approved for surface or watercourse discharge. The peat is a secondary treatment system that reduces suspended soilds and bacteria counts to almost undetectable levels. The fact that they have one means almost certainly that it is approved.

I do this for a living and I install quite a few peat systems. I'm off to finish one this morning.

www.septicexpert.com

But should the effluent be on the ground surface?

Septic canoe?

Trans_Maro wrote: Septic canoe?

More work is one thing I don't need.

If the system has been neglected and it was not designed for surface discharge, then it should not be surfacing.

nope - just a helpful member.

The drainage is not seeping up through the ground, it is coming out of a pipe which they located in the lower area of their yard and exits at ground level, which then runs across the rear corner of my property. It is always wet, and it does most definitely have an odor. I have two little boys who like to play in the woods and I do not like the idea of having an area of my yard off limits to them because of the neighbors poop water. The several times we were out to the property I thought it may be storm runoff because it just happened have rained each time. Being out there after it was dry for a week, with the area still wet, I looked a little further into their yard, under some overgrown weeds/bushes, and found the pipe, conveniently placed not far from the property line so essentially all of the affected area is ours. This is in Iowa if it makes any difference, I just can't imagine a ground level drain pipe wouldn't freeze solid in the winter. It's not uncommon to have continuous below freezing temps for a month or more here in the winter. Calling the County Dept today, we'll see what they say........

If it smells something is not right. If the treatment system is working correctly there should be no odour. Call health and ask them to have a look, or you can also have the effluent tested for fecals. Sounds kind of fishy.

It's probably a gray-water pipe they put in to keep their washing machine out of the septic system. It might be "gray" and not "black" water, but it can still stink pretty well all the same. Whichever, the answer still comes back to: Not right, call the county--so you've chosen well.

Margie

update: I spoke with the director of the environmental health dept for our county. Apparently there are some systems approved for above ground discharge in our area including those with a peat filter system. However the effluent must be discharged on your property and not cross over adjacent property without an easement. I will double check our deed, but I'm pretty sure there is no such easement mentioned. Per the neighbor, there was a 'discussion' between him and the previous owner of our property to put the pipe there, with plans to tie in the future line from the house to be built by previous owner on our lot. No house was built, they sold the lot to us without mention of it. According to county health director, they will have to relocate the pipe so it does not drain across property line. Now to address the neighbor with this information without being shunned from the neighborhood before we even move there....

AugustusGloop wrote: According to county health director, they will have to relocate the pipe so it does not drain across property line....

.....Unless you too work out a verbal agreement that it is fine where it is for the time being, until you get your house constructed. Or grant an easement (a verbal agreement is cheaper!)

If you are not ok with its location though, which it sounds like you arent, you do have every right to ask him to relocate it to not drain across your property.

The verbal agreement with the previous owner does not apply to you.