When the onsite system serving Sloan Swendsen’s home failed and he could not even get an installer to look at his problem, he decided to solve it himself. Already familiar with equipment and construction, he learned how systems work and why his failed, studied Alaska’s onsite regulations, and found and installed a long-term solution. He also changed career paths. Today, from an office in Juneau, his business, Juneau Septic Services Inc., serves a 60-mile-long, 1-mile-wide strip along Alaska’s southwest coast. Here, the climate is temperate rain forest with weather similar to that in Seattle, Wash. That changes about a mile
