I have recently purchased a 10-acre lot near Sonora, CA. I know that it’s going to be difficult to get a septic system on it mainly because there is an irrigation ditch that crosses the property. There is a 250′ sanitary setback up hill from this ditch, so that takes up about half of the 10 acres right there. Also, there is a gulch with it’s setback. That leaves a small parcel below the ditch and away from the gulch. This has some nice smaller trees on it, though. I have heard of a newer type of system that uses smaller lines that can be snaked around trees. Another possibility is to put the septic stsyem above the 250′ setback, which would be uphill from the proposed house, thus requiring a pump. This property is surrounded on 3 sides by BLM land. I checked with them about putting the septic all or partially on their land but they said they don’t allow that anymore. That sure would help, though.
Does anyone have experience and/or suggestions?
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I think that when you refer to a system that can be "snaked around" you're thinking about "drip irrigation." There are several manufacturers of that type of system, but they do require a pump. Your best bet is to consult the local health department or a local engineer familiar with onsite sewage disposal for suggestions that meet local requirements.
The National Small Flows Clearinghouse also has a lot of information about "alternative" sewage disposal systems. http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/nsfc/nsfc_index.htm
You might be pleasently surprised to find that you need much less space for the leach field with some of the new designs, especially if your dirt perks well. A few years back I helped excavate for a leach field that was built with a series of 4' diameter plastic pods. Unfortunately I was out of the loop for what the limitations of the system are and thus don't know enough specifics to be of much help.
Quite right! There are a lot of ways to skin this cat, aside from the "traditional" drainfield. The first step is to get the site evaluated for soil conditions, in order to determine the design requirements.
Geoflow is a large, long perforated pipe that is laid into sand for a field.
Infiltrators are the new thing that reduces a field by 75-80% in size, using technological design if fabric folded over itself multiple times to increase the surface size of the bacteriological matt that does the actuyall filtering/cleaning of the water. It looks about like a large box springs in some ways.
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Infiltrator http://www.infiltratorsystems.com/sc_distributors.htm is a plastic arch that replaces the washed stone in the leach field. Here, it reduces the leach field size by 1/3.
"Large box springs"?PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
There is another system that we refer to as infiltrators. What you describe is what we call chambers. Some plastic and some concrete if it will be driven on. But gravel is the norm here, you don't get permitted with out it. 18" of gravel, then the chambers, then inch mius fill and then topsoil seeded. It creates a mound. The infiltrator I describe takes far less space horizontally and vertically
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I'm thinking we havea problem with local terminology again. I did some googling to find these. Apparantly the plastic cahmbers are made by a comp[any that trademarked them "infiltrators"but around here we have been calling all chambered system chambers whether concrete oir steel. Somehow. the name infiltratos has migrated incorrectly to what is actually the elgin drain field, which is what I was describing.
http://www.eljen.com/
so I got my terminolgy mixed up. it's just what the dirt guys around here calls them.This link to the geoflow product is another example of terminology migrating if you look at the whole site.
http://www.geoflow.com/design_w.html
apparantly, Geoflow is a company name too and they make a lot of stuff, but we call their drain field product "Geoflow"It's kind of like how we get to calling countertops Formica, whether they are of that brand name or a competitor. The name gets used
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It's kind of like how we get to calling countertops Formica, whether they are of that brand name or a competitor. The name gets used
Those links were interesting, thanks. Getting to be more of an issue here every year. I know our state health dept. approves Infiltrator, which is becoming the dominant system. They waited several years for other areas to test it before giving approval. Other methods will fare similarly.
"Formica" only works when the products are very similar. Same for Corian type products, but you couldn't very well use those two (Formica and Corian) interchangeably.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
There are new types of weeping fields where the filtering material is made of peat or straw bales that are intented to be changed out at 8-10 year intervals as they become clogged. The bales are stacked around the interior of a large, perforated plastic tank, and therefore take up much less square footage than traditional piped/sand systems. They can be literally a house-saver for many rural folks on small lots whose original weeping field has clogged but who have no space to install a new field. An important advantage of these systems is that they can be considerered permanent, in that when the filter bales clog up, they are simply removed from the tank and replaced with new bales. (When a traditional weeping field clogs, it must usually be abandoned and a new one built in clean, undisturbed earth elsewhere on the lot.)
One company that makes these systems is called Eco-Flo. I've tried searching for them on the web but with no success. I know their system is approved in Ontario and Québec; if you're better at web-searches than I am, you may be able to come up with their contact info.
Alternatively, I'd suggest you go with placing your field above the setback and install a pumping station. These systems are pretty reliable and not that complicated. The pumping station itself is a large concrete tank about half the size of the septic tank. In it you install a macerator pump and a high-level alarm system. Wastewater flows into the septic tank first; most of the solids settle out; then it flows into the pumping station. From there it's pumped uphill to your weeping field.
Dinosaur
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But it is not this day.
Eco-flo is manufactured by Premier Tech, Ltd. http://www.premiertech.com/ecoflo/biofilter/index.htm
Another peat system is Puraflow, which uses Irish peat. Both are forms of biofilters, and there are a number of similar systems. Advantex, manufactured by Orenco, uses a fabric filter; SCAT Biofilter, from Zabel, uses foam cubes. Like the sand in sandfilters, in these systems the media is mostly a place for microorganisms, which break down the effluent, to grow. These are only a few of the available treatment systems. There are a number of disposal systems, like drip irrigation and chamber systems, made by several manufacturers. And different treatment systems can be combined with different disposal systems.
The number of proprietary products for onsite sewage disposal (septic systems) is huge these days. Initial cost, maintenance requirements, and availability (which often depends on state or local product approval) all affect the final selection. The site conditions (percolation rate, or hydraulic conductivity, presence of soil restrictions, depth to water table or seasonal saturation, available area, etc.) can make a system more or less appropriate as a solution.
"...straw bales that are intented to be changed out at 8-10 year intervals as they become clogged"
Yuck. Not a job I'd want. And how do they dispose of the old ones? Yuck.
In that the change-out is done with a backhoe or other power equipment, I'd say it's a somewhat less nasty job than repairing or replacing the pump in a sewage pumping station. The entire top of the chamber can usually be removed to facilitate hoisting out the bales.
As far as what is done with the saturated bales, they are eminently compostable. However, given the strong Western societal prejudice against using human waste for anything except enriching the hazardous waste industry, the likelihood is high that your local municipality will require they be hauled to a registered disposal site (where they will, of course, compost themselves whether we like it or not...).
The latest information I had about the cost of bale replacement was a few years back; at that time it was in the neighbourhood of $1500C.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
Do you have a link to info on the straw bale system? That's a new one for me.
I couldn't come up with a link for anything. You did a lot better than I did on web-searching this stuff. (Howja do dat, anyway??)
My understanding is that straw bales were the first type of 'portable' filtering media used when these systems were being developed 15 or so years back. I don't know for sure if they are still used or approved in any particular jurisdiction. Peat bales seem to have become the standard today.
I've used straw bales as a sediment filter for site run-off to prevent inundating small ponds downhill from the site with mud and sand and choking the fish. They work extremely well in that application. Set up a semicircular dam of straw bales across each of the run-off paths, and build it up to create a containment basin large enough to hold the water until it's had a chance to filter through the bales.
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
http://www.indrain.com/designguide.html
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The response you got from JimB is a good place to start -- Nat'l Small Flows Clearinghouse at Morgantown is THE authoratative source for info.
Check out Norweco at (where else) norweco.com
There is always a way to get a waste disposal system in place. Cost may be a problem, though.