Ack! Leach field failure?

Users who are viewing this thread

Code0

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Marshall County, Iowa
Well, bought a house back in August that was just outside of city limits and has a septic system. I found out at that time that the tank was a new 1000gal tank (round concrete) that has a surface access. The rest was unknown at time of sale, but I did have a pumper take a look at it and things looked fine. The plumber who replaced the tank also said things were looking OK at that time. Later I found the leach field specs from an old permit. 2 80ft laterals that are 30" wide and a 10'x10' leach pit. This is all from 40 years ago (original install date). My perc rate at that time was 10min/in. The soil is mostly clay-ish.

Anyway... Fast-forward to the last few weeks. Iowa got hit with a nasty ice storm including my county (Marshall County). Right before the storm, everything had thawed and the ground was bare. During the whole storm, there was a big gaping spot all the way to the surface that was holding water - this spot seems to be over where the leach field should be.

It seems a bit odd that the rest of the yard is dry and this area has a nice huge puddle.. Well, we sent a broken up blue toilet cleaner down the drain as a cheap dye test with a good bit of hot water to chase it down. About half an hour later, my wife went out (brave soul) and sniffed. It smelled like strong sewage and toilet bowl cleaner. She stuck a stick in the puddle and figured the smell was from the water (again - BRAVE soul).

Does this point to system failure - especially after the sudden freeze/ice storm?

P.S. - The system has worked fine since we moved in (just 2 of us). No issues at all concerning the septic (smells, standing water, etc). Also, over the winter, there were no signs of snow melt around the system.

Pictures of the problem:
http://gallery.code0.net/trouble-in-the-back-yard/
 

Bob NH

In the Trades
Messages
3,310
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
New Hampshire
If you have water standing where the leach field is located, as it appears to in the photos, that says you have no drainage of surface water. No leach field will work if runoff is entering the field from the top.

You need to divert the surface water to a safe place and probably put in a little fill to make the water run off the surface of the leach field.

It looks pretty flat, so you will probably need to get a surveying level or maybe a good laser level to find the elevations of the ground and figure out how to get the water away.

When water is standing there, you can try to do a little trenching to get the surface water to a safe place away from the leach field, away from your well, and away from the house. It looks like you are in a rural area so you should have room to solve the problem.

You want to do everything you can to save the leach field. If you need a new one, you could be looking at $10,000 to $15,000, and finding a new location for the leach field.

This is one of the situations where it is often prudent to solve the problem with as little involvement of "authorities" as possible, or you will get some gung-ho inspector condemning what you have. Then see last sentence of previous paragraph.
 

Code0

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Marshall County, Iowa
Fun.. I actually live in a rural community (~50 houses, I think). I sit on half an acre, but the yard is deep rather than wide. My lot is about 100ft wide and 260ft deep. The second photo shows a red bench and bush in it - that is the property line on the east side..

One other thing - what explains the sewage smell at ground level?
 

Bob NH

In the Trades
Messages
3,310
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
New Hampshire
The sewage smell is a result of the water table being so high that the effluent from the septic tank has nowhere to go but up. Your drain must be at least as high as that water surface, or it wouldn't be draining. Or else you are pumping. If you are downhill from a neighbor, you may be getting a little of his effluent running into that pond on top of your septic system.

Modern septic systems in areas of high water table are often built in mounds to keep the leach field above the water table. On some small lots you see big flat mounds in FRONT yards with 4" PVC vent pipes coming out of them.

You need to get that water out of there or you will have trouble every spring. It's probably no mere happenstance that they sold the house in August.

You probably need to live with it until dry weather. They have a saying around here where some people have septic systems on 8,000 square foot lots; "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down."

And find the nearest laundramat to use until May.
 

Code0

New Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Marshall County, Iowa
Here's an update...

The puddle has gone down. Don't have any pictures of it, but it seems better - we'll just wait.

I talked to the local sanitarian. I work for the county and thought it would be best to mention the puddle before a complaint was made or he saw it. Either way, he told me not to worry about it unless it didn't go down after a couple of weeks. He also said if it was effluent getting to the surface that it would turn the grass around it black. Lets just hope it stays this way.
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks