Wildflower meadow over septic drain field
SeniorBalloon
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SeniorBalloon
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planting over septic field?
Comments (14)I wouldn't worry about roots affecting your leach field if you are planting annuals. If it is perennials, then you might have the roots get into the lines, just as tree roots will, and plug it up. To play it super safe, you could avoid root crops, but the purpose of the leach field is to remove/kill the bacteria and viruses in the sewage before it gets anywhere. If your lines are buried 5-6 feet deep, the microbes should never work upwards that far for a standard septic design--the water should move outwards and downwards, not upwards. It should never get to the surface. If it did, runoff from heavy rains would be putting the bacteria into the waterways and causing the problems a leach field is designed to prevent. Now if you had an evaporative type system, then you would be bringing the water to the surface and may not want an edible garden on top. Plant roots themselves will not transport the nasty microbes to the surface, only the nutrients and water they absorb. The different results of green/dry people have had really do make sense. In drier climates, grass roots will move downwards to seek water and find it in the leach field. When dry, the grass will stay green over the leach field due to the underground water it is getting. In wetter areas, the grass doesn't have to root as deep to usually have good moisture, but the soil over the leach field usually has very good drainage, so during dry periods, the ground will dry out quickly and the grass turn brown....See MoreSeptic drainage field (slow draining)
Comments (15)Castoff, Sounds like you have systems that are similar to Vermont's. We also have open and closed systems, distribution boxes, etc. The 2 systems with pumps that I described both had leaching areas remote from and higher than the tank and so had to be pumped. In this area if it is all clay soil, I can almost gurantee that a raised leaching area would be required..here they are called "mound systems." In my dealings (until new State laws were passed 3 or 4 yrs ago) each town or city had its own regulations. The smaller towns did nothing. They left it up to home owners and local contractors to design and build their own systems. In most of these cases they were rural communities and the landowners had many acres...the practice was to just build something big enough and to heck with any fancy design. The State of VT now has to issue permits for all designs. The trade off for this regulation is that they will now accept "modern" systems that allow systems in soils that would never work before. When a system is being designed a "perk test:" has to be done on the soil. A hole is dug with a back hoe and the engineer/designer establishes soil conditions at different levels. Then water is poured into the hole and a timing is done to determine how long it takes for the water to leach out. I can tell you that in the civilized areas here, the clay soild conditions that you describe, especially with seasonal high water, would never pass and would require a built up mound system I must confess that I haven't fooled with systems for about 8 years and don't know the specs on the new systems that are allowed or if the new tanks are 2 chambered. I know that many of the designers are requiring filters on the outgoing side of the tank. Possibly this serves the same purpose as the 2 chamber tank. Once a year, you pull the filter out of the inspection hole on the outgoing side and hose it off. I hope that the PO finds some solution. It would be too bad to find out that money had been spent on a design that doesn't work. If it only floods on a seasonal basis, then it does sound like a design problem. If that was the case and it wasn't too terrible, I would investigate anything that might lessen the water flow to the system.....low flow fixtures....toilets, shower heads, etc. I guess I'm trying to think of ways to save someone money, but this system could be beyond that. I don't know what part of Canada the PO is in. I owned property in rural Quebec in a small towwn. I can tell you that there was no regulation (20 yrs ago) over septic systems...at least no regulation that was enforced unless it was a newly constructed building. This town was small enough that the town clerk's office was in the living room of his house and was only open 2 nights per week:-)...See Morered spruce, septic drain field, your thoughts
Comments (4)Native soil is rocky, acidic, goes pretty deep but there is bedrock in the neighborhood so that depth is inconsistent...it drains incredibly well. My theory is that there are fissures in the crystaline bedrock (I grew up a few miles away and when our oil tank leaked, 500 gallons of oil leaked hundreds of feet down into our well within 4 days...we had oil water coming out of the shower...EPA took care of that thank god!). Septics do very well here, even in the middle of forests. I'm 32 and I just bought the house...so I suppose it's possible that I'll still be here in 30 years. Not interested in dwarf for this particular species or location. I put a rhod. maximum in the area and I'd like the red spruce to add to it's shade over time. On this one I took your advice Ken! I have 10 red spruce bare roots coming to me from the NH nursery....See MorePermanent Outdoor fire pit over septic drain field?
Comments (4)If you're using segmental wall block, you're looking at digging down 6" for the gravel footer + at least half a block below grade. At that point you may end up getting close to conflicting with the lines, depending how shallow they are on your property. And when doing a built-in firepit we recommend trenching a drainline out to daylight so that rainwater doesn't pool inside it, which - I don't trench across drainfields. I agree w/ Yard re: talking to septic pros, but... I'd also consider other options. Personal bias - I don't like the look of lego block firepits. If you want something with some oomph, google Firekettles. We did one for a client and they love it. 4 ft diameter firepit with a rail all the way around for a footrest, it's awesome. In your case, the fact that it's freestanding and portable - if you can call something that took 4 guys to move "portable" - is a bonus in terms of 1) not conflicting with the septic lines and 2) being movable if the drainfield needs dug up for any reason. As long as we don't find any surprises when we renovate the bathroom next month, I'm looking to buy a firekettle in the spring :)...See MoreSeniorBalloon
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