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Make It Clear: Why You Can't Just Flush and Forget
Make It Clear: Why You Can't Just Flush and Forget
The Impact of Failing Septic Systems
In this conversation, Angela and Shawn discuss the true impacts of failing on-site septic systems. We explore the reasons why septic systems may fail, including excessive water use, poor maintenance, and poor design and installation. We also highlight the signs of a failing septic system, such as backups, slow drains, and odors. The conversation emphasizes the importance of addressing these issues to protect groundwater and the environment and the need for regular maintenance and prompt action to prevent further damage and health risks.
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00:08
Angela: Hello and welcome to Make It Clear, a conversational podcast about all things related to water and wastewater. I'm your host, Angela Bounds, and I'm joined by my co-host, Shawn Rapp. In each episode, we'll tackle a relevant topic with facts and expert opinions and make things clear. Hello, and thank you for joining us again. Today it's just Shawn and I, and we're going to talk about...
00:37
the true impacts of failing on-site systems. So we talk about this a little bit throughout the podcast. On various episodes, we've talked about failing septic systems, but we really wanna drill down into the reasons why your septic system may be failing. What are the signs that you need to look for to determine
01:06
is this really happening? Do I need to call somebody out? And then what are the effects, right? So what are the true effects of a failing onsite system? What does it matter? Why do you need to care? Like is this in your backyard? Do you really need to care about it? The answer is yes. And we'll get into exactly why you need to care about it. So good morning, Shawn.
Shawn: Thanks everybody for joining us today.
Angela: Yeah.
01:36
Angela: So let's get into it. So some of the reasons why your septic system might be failing. There are a variety of them and they really do run the gamut. Some of them are inside the house, some of them are outside the house. Some of them have to do with what you may have put down the drain. So the first reason why your septic system may be failing is excessive
02:05
water use. Now we're not necessarily talking about like, oh, you took two showers today.
Shawn: Right.
02:14
Angela: It's always interesting. Like you have to kind of define that. Like what is excessive? Some people might say, you can't take two showers. And then I would be miserable.
Shawn: Right. Yeah. I think this has more to do with say leaky fixtures.
Angela: Correct. Yeah, leaky fixtures.
Shawn: Bad habits….
Angela: Bad habits. Right. Leaving water running for no reason. You know, don't take two showers and leave the water running for 15 minutes before you get in the shower every time.
02:44
That's bad practice. Don't know that that's going to overflow your septic system, but it's definitely not being a good steward.
Shawn” Yeah. It's not helping.
Angela: Right. But this is more focused on leaky fixtures, whether that is a leaking sink or a leaky toilet. A lot of times people will ignore a leaking sink and ignore the drip, drip, drip without thinking about the fact that those drips add up.
Shawn: Yes.
03:13
Angela: Excessive water use can also be, you know, what we would call more of a surge. So instead of there being four people in your home, there are 15 people in your home. So instead of, you know, the toilet getting used, used every couple of hours, there's somebody in the bathroom at all times. That's gonna, if, if that continues over time, then
03:43
it could significantly increase your chances of your system failing.
Shawn: Right. I imagine you would see that in a lot of vacation properties too, that maybe don't have a system that's designed to handle large numbers of people.
Angela: Right.
Shawn: And on a weekly basis, they get, you know, 10 or 12 people on a system. It's designed for four or five.
Angela: Yeah. So what Shawn's talking about is if you're, when you are designing a wastewater treatment system,
04:11
a residential system for your home, you have to take into consideration whether it will be a rental property or a single-family residence because the flows will change. Single-family residence is usually 120 gallons per bedroom per day. It really depends on your jurisdiction, but that's based on, you know, single, maybe double occupancy bedrooms, not a bedroom with four bunk beds in it.
04:41
Shawn: Right.
Angela: And for people sleeping in a bedroom, cause they're at a vacation facility and couches and everything else that we, we all sleep in when we rent those types of places.
Shawn: Yeah. There's something to be said for couch surfing too, so…
Angela: Yes, yes. All right. Reason number two, poor maintenance or no maintenance.
Shawn: Yeah. I think this one's one of the ones that is often overlooked. People sometimes just don't pay attention.
Angela: Right.
05:09
And so you haven't been maintaining your system. All of a sudden you've got sewage backing up into your house and why is this happening? And nobody's cleaned your filter, nobody's looked at your system. There's no maintenance whatsoever that's gone on. We're always a proponent of maintenance no matter what type of system you have, whether it be our system, somebody else's, whether you just have an effluent filter or you have
05:39
a full blown AdvanTex or secondary treatment system. They all require maintenance. They all require that you look at them. All right, poor design and installation. Unfortunately, this is an issue. So sometimes systems can be under designed. Something could have been missed in installation. And it can cause your system to fail.
Shawn: Wrong size tank…
06:08
Angela: Yeah.
Shawn: It could be maybe a riser isn't secured on there or pipes aren't, aren't installed properly and you get groundwater infiltration.
Angela: Yeah. During heavy rains, if the installation was poor, you can get leaking in your riser. Last is damage. So physical damage. So if somebody ran over your tank and cracked, cracked your lid,
06:39
If you have a cracked lid, I feel like I need to tell you that you need to replace that lid. Do not just leave a cracked lid on your tank period ever.
Shawn: Yeah.
Angela: Okay. Back to our regularly scheduled program.
Shawn: But I have a feeling this happens more often than people realize too. When you have physical damage to a system.
Angela: Yep.
Shawn: And that could be even somebody digging a trench and, and putting a shovel through the line or something.
Angela: Yeah.
07:09
So it can happen, physical damage can happen in a variety of ways. So if you, if you run something over your drain field and crack a pipe, I, I think I've told this story before. I was talking to a friend. They live in a community. That community has sent, that utilizes sand filter technology. And he was telling me, Oh, there's a wet spot out in the field. He goes, it's always green. I was like,
07:38
In the middle of the field? Because yeah, I go, so you're telling me, I go, did they mow that field with a tractor? He's like, they did. I go, they broke a pipe. They broke a pipe. That's it's not just lush.
Shawn: Nope.
Angela: Right there. They probably broke a pipe, so you should probably get that checked and fixed. So that that's kind of stuff can just happen. You hit it just right. It's kind of like your funny bone.
08:08
Shawn: Right?
Angela: Yeah, you can hit your elbow 10 times and it doesn't hurt. And then that 10th time you hit the funny bone and you're in excruciating pain.
Shawn: Yep.
Angela: Yeah.
Shawn: Not fun.
Angela: All right. Let's talk about the signs. What are the signs of a failing septic tank?
Shawn: Well, most people are going to see right off would be systems backing up into their home, whether that's into the shower or the toilet not flushing because it can't go down.
08:38
Angela: Mm hmm.
Shawn: You know, those are those are some of the obvious ones or maybe gurgling in the sink, that kind of thing.
Angela: Yeah. Or sometimes you'll see it bubble up through your drains.
Shawn: Yep.
Angela: Sometimes it'll just be a bathtub or a toilet that is slow to drain. Showers slow to drain. Like you said, gurgling sounds in the plumbing,
09:05
standing water, like I just described. So that a mushy area, standing water in your drain field, obvious spots, right.
Shawn: Yep.
Angela: That you can see in the drain field where, why is that? Why does that more marshy than the rest of it?
Shawn: Odor is another one.
Angela: It is odor can be a tricky one.
Shawn: Yeah.
Angela: It's not that it doesn't have an odor, right?
09:33
Septic tanks can have an odor, but if it gets really bad, if it gets bad around the drain field especially, I don't get as concerned if I could smell an odor around a septic tank. I guess I was just kind of figure the wind picked up. But if I could smell it in the drain field, that's usually where I'm like, wait, this should be far enough underground that I can't smell it.
10:02
Algae blooms in nearby lakes or ponds. That's a sign. So if you know what to look for, the signs that we just discussed, you can more easily identify if you need to call a service provider out. If you need to find somebody who can come out and really troubleshoot that area, dig in to where that marshy spot is or where that wet spot is in the drain field. You know, that's what service providers are for.
10:30
They will come out, they will do that work, they will identify it, they will fix it for you. And around the country, I guess... I'm sure that somewhere exists that doesn't have someone that does that type of work. I just haven't really run into an area... In my head, I'm sitting here thinking about it, and my immediate reaction is, you know, if you can't find somebody, but I've never run into an area that doesn't have...
10:59
At least one guy.
Shawn: Yeah.
Angela: One person that does that type of work. They'll come out, check it out, fix it for you. Shawn: Yep.
Angela: If not multiple individuals. So last, let's talk a little bit about what the effect is. So, you know, like everything else in life, there's a cause and effect.
ShawnL Right.
Angela: So what is the effect
11:29
of failing septic systems?
Shawn: And I think the most important one is going to be, well, the important, the environment is important, but I think the important part that we really need to have folks focus on is the fact that it causes a big health risk.
Angela: Right. Well, and I think I've always said that the whole reason, the whole reason that we do what we do is to protect groundwater.
11:58
If we weren't concerned with groundwater and water in general, and making sure that we all have access to clean water, there'd be no need.
Shawn: Right.
Angela: Right? The need wouldn't be there if we weren't concerned about water and protecting our waterways, whether that be groundwater, rivers, lakes, streams, all of it. And if your system starts to fail, then something's going wrong.
12:28
Something's going wrong and you're putting that at risk.
Shawn: Right.
Angela: Whether that be, you know, somebody standing in sewage water in your yard or the fact that sewage may be making its way into places that it shouldn't be.
Shawn: Yeah. Like somebody's well. The aquifer.
Angela: Yeah. Yep.
Shawn: And it's really easy for contaminated groundwater to move
12:58
you know, all kinds of places, cause yeah, end up hitting a denser layer of soil or something and it starts moving laterally. And then I, now you've got problems with it going into lakes and streams and all kinds of stuff. So…
Angela: yeah. So it's super important.
Shawn: Absolutely.
Angela: Yeah.
Shawn: Not to mention environmental damage because that causes have to have the environment cleaned up.
Angela: Yep.
Shawn: I mean, algae blooms and in lakes and rivers, that's a huge environmental impact.
13:26
It impacts the wildlife. It impacts the plant life along the banks. People who recreate in that water, they're contaminated or they're exposed to contamination. So that implies an economic cost as well, because somebody's got to pay for that.
Angela: Yep. Yeah. So all in all, I guess the message for today is know the signs
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understand why so that you can adequately address any issues that may be happening in your home that you can control. If you see a sign that your system may be failing, call an appropriate person to get it fixed so that you can be a good steward.
Shawn: Yeah. And practice preventative maintenance.
Angela: Yeah. Practice preventative maintenance. Have it checked. Have it checked at least once a year. It's a good idea.
14:25
That's all I've got. You have anything else, Shawn?
Shawn: I think we've covered pretty much everything. So…
Angela: I do too.
Shawn: Just, just be vigilant, folks.
Angela: Yep. All right. Well, thanks for the chat, Shawn, and thanks everybody for listening. We appreciate you. We'll see you next time.
We want to thank you again for joining us today. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe where you listen to podcasts. So you're notified when new episodes are posted.
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Also, you can leave your comments or suggestions through the contact link on our website, www.orenco.com. Until next time, have a great day!
