From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: concerns with well water and a septic tank
Date: 30 Dec 92 03:36:24 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Elegant Communications Inc., Ottawa, Canada

In article <1992Dec29.035611.988@mtu.edu> pecampbe@mtu.edu (Paul Campbell) writes:
>In article <1992Dec28.225315.6187@siemens.com> aad@siemens.com (Anthony Datri) writes:

>>What I'm really worried about is polluting.  If this tank is supposed to be
>>solid, then why doesn't it fill up very, very quickly?

>The water is run through a dry well. This gets rid of the moisture and
>leaves the remaining solid wastes to continue into the septic tank.

How pray tell does the solids get into the septic tank if all the moisture has
been left behind in the dry well? ;-)  That's not how a drywell or septic
tank works...

>For
>some reason, the new thing is to use a drain field instead of a dry well.
>It performs essentially the same function.

The old "standard" drywell system was simply allowing household waste to go
into a pit of some sort.  Often filled with rocks and covered with topsoil.
Aka cesspools in some cases.  These are rarely permitted nowadays because:

	- you can't usually pump out a drywell
	- they plug up relatively quickly
	- they put raw sewage directly in contact with the soil over
	  a deeper range, and will pollute water tables far more readily.

Drywells (plus agricultural runoff) is why most municipal codes no longer
permit shallow (surface water/water table) wells.  Drywells are little more
than a fancy name for a pit for an outhouse that has running water.

Septic tank plus leach beds, if cared for properly, can last virtually forever.
Mainly because you can pump out the solids, and the leach bed converts all of
the liquids and soluables.  And because the concentrations are much lower,
pollution is less likely.  Ie: phosphates in moderation aren't bad.  Concentrated
they make a mess.

Drywells were still permitted here, last I looked, ONLY when the soil
percolation rate was very high, and it's a long way away from the
water table, watercourses and wells.

>Yes, detergents, toilet paper, and anything else you put down the drain
>pollutes. This is just a fact of life.

This is absolutely true, regardless of whether it's a septic bed, drywell
or municipal sewer system.  It has to go somewhere.  Sewer or bed.  And
one would suggest that a properly operated septic system is probably
better on the environment than a full blown municipal sewage system.
Cheaper too.  Just not practical on city lots...

>Unless you can charge outrageous
>fees to collect money or pay the same, you just can't economically
>afford a super duper scrubber system that reduces your waste output
>to clean water and a bunch of dry powder that gets shipped to a land
>fill and BURIED just like metropolitan areas.

Well, that's more-or-less how a septic system works.  The water is
clean after the leach bed, and the gunk, while it ain't dry, does get
buried somewhere.  Just like a municipal sewer system...

>...  the septic tank
>as a sort of underground compost pile/storage tank.

Good way of describing it...

>Sewage does leak out into the surrounding area.

Raw sewage shouldn't leak out into the surrounding area in a properly
operating septic tank.  The effluent of the septic tank is a very
much biologically digested almost clear liquid. Which is further cleaned
and filtered by the leach bed.

>Assuming that you don't regularly poor
>industrial toxic waste down your drain, the surrounding dirt will
>clean itself just like it has done for thousands of years.

With the caveat noted above, yes...

One shouldn't put harsh chemicals down a septic system, because it can
kill the bugs in the septic tank that break down the sewage.  Ie:
go easy with - preferably avoid - the bleach.  No solvents, oils or
other nasties such as draino.  Much as one *should* do with a municipal
system.

>If you're worried about detergents, then perhaps you can suggest
>a nontoxic detergent

"low" or zero phosphate detergents to be precise.  Ie: Sunlight.
-- 
Chris Lewis; clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca; Phone: Canada 613 832-0541
Psroff 3.0 info: psroff-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca
Ferret list: ferret-request@ferret.ocunix.on.ca