NEVER FLUSH...
Coffee Grinds
Disposable Diapers
Sanitary Napkins
Tampons
Condoms
Cigarette Butts
Fats, Grease or Oil
Paints
Thinners
Antibiotics
Dental Floss
Kitty Litter
Paper towels
Varnishes
Waste Oils
Pesticides
Photographic solutions

DO’S
• Conserve water. Doing laundry over several days will put less stress on your system.
• Repair any leaking faucets or toilets.
• Divert down spouts away from your tank. Excessive water keeps the soil from adequately cleansing the wastewater.
• Get your tank inspected and pumped regularly. Suggested frequency is 3-5 years.
• Keep your septic tank cover accessible. Install risers with lids if necessary.
• Call your county health department or a registered septic tank contractor if you experience problems.
• Keep record of repairs, pumpings, inspections, and other maintenance activities.

DONT’S
• Drive over your tank or drainfield or compact the soil in any way.
• Dig around the tank or drainfield, or build anything over it.
• Cover your tank or drainfield with a hard surface such as concrete.
• Plant anything over or near the drainfield except grass. Roots may clog and damage the drain lines.
• Use a garbage disposal. Disposals increase solids loadings to your tank by about 50%.
• Use your toilet as a trash can.
• Pour harmful chemicals and cleansers down the drain. Harsh chemicals can kill the bacteria that help purify your wastewater.
• Use a separate pipe to carry wash waters to a side ditch. This graywater contains germs that can spread disease.
• Allow backwash from home water softeners to enter the septic system.
• Enter a septic tank – toxic gases from the tank can kill. Please see a professional for maintenance or repair.

Septic System Maintenance

Why Maintain Your System?
3 Important Reasons
#1 your pocket book. Poor maintenance results in failed systems requiring repairs at a minimum and sometimes replacement. Repairs or replacement costs can be thousands of dollars, whereas a periodic inspection and pumping costs about $200-$300.

#2 Health of your family, community and the environment. Untreated sewage contains disease-causing bacteria and viruses, as well as unhealthy amounts of nitrate and other chemicals. Failed septic systems can allow untreated sewage to seep into wells, groundwater, and surface waterbodies, where people get their water.

#3 health of your economy. Contamination of waterbodies by failed septic systems pollutes water supplies, closes shellfish beds, and creates offensive odors. Quality of life, recreational opportunities, livelihoods and tourism decline, and with them go the property values and economic vitality of the area.

How Do You Maintain Your System?
Proper care of your system requires day-to-day management as well as periodic maintenance. It also requires that you know where your system is located. In order to maintain your system, the tank needs to be accessible for pumping and the drainfield should be protected.

• Make a sketch locating your septic tank and drainfield.
• A good starting point for finding the exact location of the tank is to find the direction in which the house sewer pipe enters the soil. Gently push a thin (3/8 to 1/2 inch diameter) steel rod into the soil about 5-10 feet away from the house to feel for the tank. Call your local utility company to make sure there are not any underground utilities in the area.
• When you have your septic tank pumped, measure and record the distance from the house to the access port on the tank. You may want to have the access manhole extended up to just below ground level and marked clearly.

How Septic Systems Work

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
A septic tank system uses natural processes to treat and dispose of the wastewater generated in your home. It typically consists of a septic tank and a drainfield, or soil absorption field. The septic tank provides the first step in treatment. As wastewater flows into the tank, the heavier solids settle to the bottom to form a sludge layer, and the lighter solids, greases, and oils float to the top to form a scum layer. The liquid wastewater (effluent) from the tank flows into gravel-filled trenches in a typical drainfield where it is distributed via perforated pipes and then treated by the natural soil system. The diagram above shows the components of a typical septic system.

SYSTEM OPERATION
The septic tank provides some biological treatment of the sludge and scum layers. The majority of treatment occurs in the drainfield where the effluent enters the soil and is treated as it percolates to the groundwater. The soil acts as a biological and physical filter to remove harmful substances, including disease-causing bacteria and viruses, toxic organics and other undesirable wastewater constituents.

Outlet filters or baffles are located in the tank and are designed to prevent the sludge and scum from flowing into the drainfield. If the tank is not pumped regularly to remove the accumulated solids, the tank will fill with sludge and the solids will be washed out into the drainfield, or clog the outlet filter. If this happens, the soil will quickly clog and lead to system failure.