Leach Field, Landscaping and a Fishy Surprise
Starting a Landscaping Project? There are some things YOU need to know.
Pipe Spies was called out in May 2014, to a property in Parker, Colorado.
The Problem: Liquid was not draining out from the septic tank.
Possible Culprit: Broken outlet pipe or blockage between the tank and the leach field head.
First, what is a leach field?
A leach field is part of a sewage system that receives liquid contaminants and impurities from the septic tank. It typically consists of an arrangement of trenches containing perforated pipes and porous material (often gravel) covered by a layer of soil to prevent animals and surface runoff from reaching the wastewater distributed within those trenches. See diagram below.
By scoping the outlet pipe from the tank to the leach field, Pipe Spies discovered:
- The head pipe or manifold of the leach field was located under a pond area.
- Over time, the pond had saturated the leach field.
Top Center of Photo: A man is standing at the end of the the leach field head where the pipe from the septic tank ends.
Bottom Center of Photo: The septic tank is pictured, where there’s a hole dug.
Far Left and Right of Photo: Two, man-made streams are flowing down to the pond.
Center of Photo: The boardwalks are built over different parts of the pond, with the pond extending beyond both sides of the photo.
The length of the leach field begins from a line between the septic tank and the man and then extends right.
The current owner is the second owner of the house and built the streams and pond not realizing that he had designed and built it over the leach field. The pond was also full of large, beautiful (and may I add expensive) multi-colored fish. Fortunately, for the fish and home owner, the pond saturated the leach field and not the other way around.
The moral of the story…
Property owners can avoid potentially costly mistakes with their landscaping projects by having an independent underground scope completed on their perimeter drains, sewer system or septic/leach system BEFORE starting their landscaping project.
Call to Schedule Your Landscaping Inspection