Failures: How Prevalent?

Results from a South Dakota county’s septic system inspection program raise a question: How common, in general, are deficient and broken systems?

There’s an ongoing debate in the world of septic systems about how well they work and how often they fail. Of course professionals know they work fine, and last long, if they are installed correctly, and if they are maintained properly. 

That second “if” is the big one, and it’s at the heart of controversies over local ordinances to require homeowners to have their septic systems inspected and cleaned periodically. There seems to be almost a frontier mentality that says if I live in the country and own a septic system, no one should be able to tell me what to do with it.

 

A look at the data

Well, South Dakota’s Pennington County recently collected some data that shows what can happen when septic system owners are simply left to their devices. According to the Rapid City Journal, a county ordinance regulating septic systems, passed in July 2010, came with controversy. “Opponents said there’s no proof that septic systems were polluting groundwater and, besides, owners are capable of maintaining their own systems without inspections,” said an editorial in that newspaper.

But after the ordinance was adopted, the county sent letters to the owners of about 750 systems – out of the 5,000 total systems in the county – saying those systems were on the schedule to be pumped and inspected.

The inspections found 56 systems that needed minor repairs and 105 that needed major repairs, including 10 systems with overflowing drainfields. That first set of systems inspected focused on those closest to streams and groundwater.

The newspaper’s editorial board concluded that this data justified the ordinance – that clearly many people were not taking care of their systems, and therefore the ordinance was not just a “costly intrusion on private property” as its opponents claimed.

 

How about elsewhere?

A logical question is: What sort of results would be typical if all counties’ systems were inspected? What do you think the results would be in the counties where you work?

The intent here clearly is not to cast an aspersion on onsite systems. The intent simply is to portray reality. We must accept that many septic systems are old and were built before the onsite industry was regulated as strictly as it is today. We also must accept that a certain number of people neglect their systems, calling for service only when they encounter a messy problem.

As a journalist I remember covering a story about residents on a Wisconsin lake opposing a planned expansion of a state park, on the grounds the increase in visitors would add to water pollution. During the debate, a regional planning commission report surfaced showing that at least half the lake residents’ septic systems were in soils classified as “limited or severely limited” for their use.

That doesn’t mean all those systems were polluting the lake, but it does give any reasonable person pause.

 

And your county?

Reliable statistics on deficient or failing septic systems is just about impossible to come by. In most cases we have to rely on anecdotal data. So let’s try to create some of that here – data that, while certainly not rock solid, at least would come from professionals in a reasonably good position to know.

Please ask yourself this question: If my county did what Pennington County, S.D., has just done, what percentage of septic systems would be found in need of repair? What percentage would likely be found failing?

Would you care to hazard an estimate? Or a guess? I think the results would be interesting and, considering the sources, reasonably credible. If you have an impression you would like to share, send a note to editor@onsiteinstaller.com. And explain briefly how you arrived at your estimate.

I promise to respond to all comments, and we will publish the overall results in an upcoming issue of Onsite Installer magazine.



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