Cultivating Curiosity

Six expert tips for a healthy septic system: What every homeowner should know

• CAES Office of Marketing and Communications

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Did you know your septic system is basically a mini wastewater treatment plant in your own backyard? In this episode of Cultivating Curiosity, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension water resource expert Gary Hawkins shares the science of septic systems and offers simple steps homeowners can take to keep them working properly. From what not to flush and how to avoid “commode overload” to protecting your drain field and scheduling inspections, you’ll learn six essential tips to maintain a healthy septic tank, protect your well water and avoid costly repairs. Whether you’re on a septic system or municipal sewer, these practical strategies can help you safeguard your home and community.

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Produced and edited by Jordan Powers and Emily Cabrera
Music and sound effects by Mason McClintock, an Athens-based singer, songwriter and storyteller who creates innovative soul-pop music that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Hailing from small-town Southeast Georgia, Mason's influences range from the purest pop to the most powerful gospel. Mason is a former Georgia 4-H'er and University of Georgia graduate! Listen to his music on Spotify. 

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Jordan Powers:

Welcome to Cultivating Curiosity where we get down and dirty with the experts on all the ways science and agriculture touch our lives, from what we eat to how we live. I'm Jordan Powers.

Emily Cabrera:

And I'm Emily Cabrera. We're from the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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Jordan Powers:

Owning a home comes with responsibilities that keep everything running smoothly, and if your home uses a septic system, you might not realize it, but you're doing more than just taking care of your own property. You're essentially managing your own miniature wastewater treatment plant. That might sound a little intimidating, but understanding that role is key to keeping the system and your community healthy. To help explain the science behind septic systems, we've invited Gary Hawkins, Associate Professor and Extension specialist focused on water resource management and policy, to join us in the studio today. Gary, thank you so much for joining us.

Gary Hawkins:

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Emily Cabrera:

Before we launch into simple steps for keeping septic systems healthy, can you explain what a septic system is?

Gary Hawkins:

We have to really start in the house or in the business. Think of your sinks, your toilet, your shower, your laundry, anything that produces water as a waste water. It flows out of the house through piping system, down to a septic tank. Typically, septic tanks are concrete, roughly 1000-1500 gallons, depending on your house size, and if you have a business that may be 2000-2500 (gallons) or maybe designed a little bit bigger. In that septic tank in the state of Georgia, we have to have what we call a two stage tank. In the first portion, we get a lot of the sedimentation or settling of the solids, and we get a lot of the floating of those things, like fats, oils and greases, toys that go down the drain and such as that, so we get that separation. In the middle portion of that separation, then is what you could call the cleaner water. Now it's still waste water, it's still dirty water, but it's the cleaner portion. That cleaner portion will then flow into the second 1/3 volume of the tank. We get a little bit more sedimentation, a little bit more floating that then cleaner water, at that point, goes out through another set of pipes into what we call the distribution system. So that distribution system is really dependent on the soil type. So once it leaves the tank, it goes through this distribution system and then infiltrates into the ground, and then the bacteria in the ground absorbs some of those nitrogen, phosphorus compounds, as well as treats that liquid as it flows down towards groundwater.

Jordan Powers:

So moving back into the system itself, we know that there are six main topics you focus on to keep septic systems healthy, many of which also apply to municipal sewer systems. Let's do a quick lightning round of each topic now. What can you tell us about number one, think at the sink?

Gary Hawkins:

Think at the sink is, I mean, you're standing there at the sink, you're standing there in the shower, you're standing there at the commode. What is going down that drain that's going to go out into your septic tank, like we just talked about, and then potentially further down the system. So what are those things you want to put down that drain? What are those things you shouldn't put down the drain? And some of those are food compounds we probably don't want to put down because of the organic matter. We definitely don't want to flush down or put down fats, oils and greases.

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Emily Cabrera:

If you didn't catch that, Gary mentioned being aware of fats, oils and greases, which may be hiding in plain sight in everyday food items such as condiments like ketchup, salad dressings and peanut butter, just to name a few. So next time you're scraping your plate, make sure to wipe up those fats, oils and greases and dispose of them in the trash can, instead of washing them down the drain where they can eventually collect and clog both septic and municipal systems.

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Gary Hawkins:

And then our cleaning products, we're going to use them, but we just really have to be mindful of how much of that stuff we put down. Because if we're using cleaning products to clean bacteria in our sink or in our toilet or in our shower, that goes down into a septic tank is full of bacteria, so we're also killing that bacteria, which then kills the tank.

Emily Cabrera:

All right, and number two, don't strain your drain.

Gary Hawkins:

When we start thinking about don't strain your drain, you know, what are those things that use water? So if we're using a dishwasher, we have laundry going, we're taking showers. We need to really kind of spread out when we send water down the drain. We take a shower while we're washing clothes, while the dishwasher is running, and then, if you got a second or third bathroom, your kids or your wife or your husband is also taking a shower, all that water is going down at the same time. That's a lot of water going into this 1500 gallon tank, like we just talked about, and it can then stir up that sediment, it can stir up that fats, oils and greases. So now, instead of a separated tank, you got a mixed up tank, then that's going to go out into your distribution system, which then can affect it, so kind of stagger your water use. So if you got three people taking showers at night, maybe wash your clothes a little bit earlier in the day, wash your dishes at night or something, but try to put less water in all at one time.

Jordan Powers:

That makes sense. Number three, keep it clean.

Gary Hawkins:

When we talk about keep it clean, we're really talking about well water here, not necessarily the septic system. But if you're in a rural part of the country or state and you have a well, more than likely you're gonna have a septic tank. And if you have a septic tank, more than likely you're gonna have a well. So we just need to make sure is the septic system working properly? Is the distribution system working properly? Because if we have anything leaching - quote, unquote - out of the septic tank and it's not working properly, if your well is close to it, then what is not properly being treated in the soil, like we talked about previously, then that can get in your well, and then you're bringing that up out of the ground. So kind of just making sure your system's operating properly helps protect that well system.

Emily Cabrera:

Next up, number four, shield your field.

Gary Hawkins:

Shield the field is really thinking about that drain field we talked about, that leach field, that final distribution of that water. What do we need to do? Because you can't see it. It's underground. If you've got a leach field in your backyard or whatnot, you more than likely can see it, because in the summertime, the grass really grows over the septic lines.

Emily Cabrera:

Oh, yeah.

Gary Hawkins:

Or it can die over the septic lines. So you know where they are. So when we want to shield the field, we need to protect that distribution system. So one, don't drive over it with heavy objects. Lawn mowers are okay, not heavy cars, cement trucks or whatnot. The other thing you want to do is, what to plant over that septic field. Trees are bad because of the big root systems, they will get into the pipes and clog them up. We don't want to plant vegetable crops over it, because if they fall on the ground, it's probably okay. But if you're having a failing system or you've had a lot of rain recently or anything, and what was in those pipes are coming to the surface, and now you're have a tomato that falls on the ground, for instance, and you pick it up. I'll leave it to your imagination from that point on. [laughter all]

Emily Cabrera:

Thank you.

Gary Hawkins:

You're welcome.

Jordan Powers:

On that note, number five, protect it and inspect it.

Gary Hawkins:

When we start thinking about protecting and inspecting it, what we really want to do is just kind of know your system. If your system is starting to back up in your house, if your toilet doesn't flush good enough, or your drain is slow to drain, kind of realize what's happening outside. A lot of times I'll get questions of, well, I can't flush my toilet, or when I take a shower, it doesn't drain very fast. A lot of times think about, has it rained in the past couple of days? Or is it raining outside now? Or has it rained for two or three days? And if you've got a lot of water over that septic system, because again, it's in the ground, and if your storm water, or your water flows over that, then that ground is going to be saturated. And so think about it this way, if you've got a cup of water and you pour more water in it, it's not going into the cup. It's gonna come out. Same thing's gonna happen with your septic system. You flush the toilet, you take a shower, you do laundry. It goes into this big concrete septic tank. Then it's got to go into the distribution system, into a quote, unquote, full glass of water. It can't go down, so it's going to come back up. So protecting that is a good way to do that. Another way to kind of protect and inspect it is every so often have somebody come out and inspect your septic tank. Typically, rule of thumb for average home size, average home family, is to get somebody to come out and pump your tank every three to five years. This kind of gets into that protected and inspected aspect of it.

Emily Cabrera:

Seems like a lot of this can be filed in the if I don't see it, I don't think about it until it becomes a problem.

Gary Hawkins:

That is a lot of what happens I think.

Emily Cabrera:

Yeah.

Gary Hawkins:

Because everything is underground, you don't see it, you don't really think about it until something happens. And then it's like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do now?

Emily Cabrera:

And I have the luck of drawing number six. Don't overload the commode.

Gary Hawkins:

Ooh, you did get lucky on that one, Emily.

Emily Cabrera:

[laughter]

Gary Hawkins:

When we start talking about don't overload the commode, there's three things that we should flush down the toilet, and there's a lot of things we shouldn't flush down the toilet. So the three things we should flush, we always say the three P's. Papers, so toilet paper, pee and poo and so the three P's, everything that's not one of those three should go in a trash can. By only putting those three things in there, we're protecting that commode, we're protecting the septic system. And toilet paper, if you think about it, will tear apart real easily. Flushable wipes, even though they say flushable, do not pull apart very easily. Paper towels don't pull apart very easily. Even facial tissues do not pull apart. So if you want to do a quick experiment at home, take some toilet paper, a facial wipe, paper towel, and then one of those flushable wipes and see which one pulls apart real easy.

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Emily Cabrera:

This is especially important to keep in mind, because many common sanitary products that we use every day are assumed or even marketed as safe to be flushed, but should simply go straight to the trash can.

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Jordan Powers:

Pretty simple.

Gary Hawkins:

Pretty simple.

Jordan Powers:

When you break it down. No pun intended. Well, Gary, is there anything we've missed?

Gary Hawkins:

You mentioned it earlier. Most of these apply to the septic system itself, but if you're on municipal, thinking at the sink, you also have to think about that. I mean, you don't have a concrete tank in the backyard, but the city or county has a million gallon tank they have to deal with. Don't strain your drain, again, more water down the drain. One person probably won't matter to the wastewater treatment plant getting millions of gallons a day. But if a bunch of us do it, also some of the municipal systems get storm water, so that extra water going in, and then we're doing that. And then really just think about, don't overload the commode, because again, that goes to your septic system, or it goes to the municipal system, and they have to deal with it, so either septic or municipal. But other than that, I thank you guys for having me today, and this was actually fun.

Jordan Powers:

Glad it was a good time. We had a blast and thank you so much for joining us.

Gary Hawkins:

You're welcome.

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Jordan Powers:

Thanks for listening to Cultivating Curiosity, a podcast produced by the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. A special thanks to Mason McClintock for our music and sound effects. Find more episodes wherever you get your podcasts.

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Jordan Powers

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Emily Cabrera

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Emily Davenport (former co-host)

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