| Native grasses and other plants with shallow roots provide great groundcover for septic drain fields. |
 egular care of your septic system can help lower maintenance costs, prevent costly problems and repairs, and prolong the life of the system. Here are some guidelines for keeping your system healthy.
Be careful about what goes into the system.
- Septic systems are designed to treat wastewater from kitchens, bathrooms and washing machines – not trash, leftovers or chemicals.
- Use garbage disposals sparingly if at all to prevent rapid buildup of organic waste in the treatment tank. Eventually this buildup can clog the system and cause wastewater to surface in the yard.
- Keep slowly decomposing items out of the system, such as hair, paper, cloth, cigarette butts, coffee grounds, sanitary products, disposable diapers, dental floss, cat litter, bandages, grease and oil.
- Never flush chemicals that could harm the system’s biological balance and contaminate surface and groundwater, such as paint, varnish, thinner, motor oil, photographic solution and pesticides.
Reduce wastewater to prevent system overload.
- Too much wastewater at a time can overload the system’s treatment tank, lead to inadequate treatment, and overwhelm the system’s drain field.
- Reduce wastewater by fixing leaky faucets and toilets and installing faucet aerators and low-flow toilets and showerheads. Stagger activities such as showers and laundry loads.
Properly maintain the system to extend its life.
- Have the system inspected and the tank pumped regularly (LCRA recommends inspections annually and cleaning every two to three years). Frequency depends on the number of people in your household, the amount of wastewater generated, and the amount of solids going into the system. For example, using a garbage disposal increases solids.
- Avoid using drain cleaner and other household products with sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, and other harsh chemicals that may kill the beneficial bacteria in the system.
- Make sure the system is properly sized.
- Make sure your system is still the right size for your home or business. If you’ve remodeled or your family has grown, you may need to expand your system.
- When installing a new system, plan ahead to avoid unnecessary expansion or replacement costs in the future. A system should last about 30 years – how will your wastewater load change in that time?
More:
Burt Carter, supervisor of LCRA’s On-Site Sewage Facilities Program, can be reached at 1-800-776-5272, Ext. 2710, or burt.carter@lcra.org. |
