Your septic tank system is similar to your body as it reacts the way your body would when something is wrong. When your septic systems health is in jeopardy, the symptoms are smelly, soft spots in the yard with soggy grass, sewage seepage into ditches and streams, and wells become contaminated. These are only some of the very undesirable things to observe relating to your system and if any of these symptoms show their face, you should strongly consider taking care of them immediately.
A septic system is built to eliminate the pollutants from the wastewater so that the living community in the area is protected and kept healthy. This includes the bodies of water that are pretty much the primary sources of irrigation and livelihood. Read on and understand why septic tank systems fail and please keep in mind that the following are only a few of the primary reasons that a septic system might fail.
1) Excessive water use
2) Damages to the internal components of the system due to heavy equipment, landscape remodeling of earthquake activity.
3) Downspouts or gutters have been incorrectly installed or have shifted out of place, causing excessive rainwater or runoff to enter the septic tank or drain field area.
4) Failure of your septic tank pump if applicable
Other less common reasons for failure might include:
1) Unsuitable soil: One of the reasons why your septic system fails is that it is built on unsuitable soil such as hydric or wet soil. During the wet season, your septic system is bound to fail, leading to the surfacing of the sewage and contamination of the groundwater. Your septic system could also be built at a depth that is shallow on a high bedrock or high water table or on slow permeable layer of soil. This could very well pollute the surrounding streams, ditches, and wells.
2) Wrong installation: Another possible reason is that the contractor simply made an error in installation. There could be a shallow drain surrounding the septic system in the wet or moist soil. This unnoticeable error carries contaminated water to the surrounding areas and this causes detrimental issues to the environment and health.
3) Obsolete design: Obsolete design is an obvious reason why there is septic system failure. There could already be deteriorated pipelines that already need replacement after decades of service. The septic system could already be overloaded when you had it. Today’s standards need your septic system updated so that you can be sure how long it will last and that it is not detrimental to the environment.
You can avoid septic system failure by making sure that your septic system is constructed on dry soil along with a good design and analysis. Remember that haste makes waste and this applies to septic systems when planning the design. Wait for the soil to dry before you ask the installers to do their job. You should also hire a good evaluator of the soil’s permeability so that your leach field will not have a problem.
Also remember that when your leach field is flooded, do not divert the sewage into the storm drains because this will contaminate or pollute the surrounding bodies of water. If your septic system fails, seek out professional septic restoration experts so that your system is offered the best chance of remediation.