Septic System Basics

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Don't Go with the Flow. Prevent large volumes of water from entering your system all at once. A flood of water reduces the time wastewater is retained in the tank, leaving fewer opportunities for solids to settle out and for anaerobic bacteria to start the breakdown process. It also can stir up sediment and flush it into the leach field, causing clogs. Route roof drains and basement drainage-tile water outside of the septic system and away from the leach field. Drain water from pools, hot tubs and roof drains to a ditch or separate dry well.

To reduce water consumption further, install faucet aerators and low-flow showerheads, which give more force to less water. Take shorter showers and use showerheads that allow you to easily turn them off when you're lathering up. And shut off water while you're shaving or brushing your teeth. Wash only full loads in the dishwasher, or handwash dishes with a basin of soapy water and a basin of clear rinse water.

Front-loading washing machines use almost half the water of top-loading washers. Wash only full loads, and adjust load level settings for small loads. Distribute wash loads evenly throughout the week to avoid overloading the system with large volumes of water.

Consider installing a gray -water system to use shower and wash water for irrigation. Your local health agency may permit a system that is properly sized, self-contained and allows no graywater to come to the surface.

If you have a water softener system, use potassium-ion exchange resins instead of sodium-ion exchange resins. They're a little more expensive, but they are much easier on your system. Recharge your water softener as infrequently as possible to reduce water use, and re-route the water softener recharge water outside the septic system. It does not need to be treated, and the salts can damage your leach field.

About 60 percent of the water used in most American homes is used in the bathroom, and most of it goes to flushing toilets. To conserve water and increase the life of your septic system, consider installing a low-flush toilet. Most lowflush or ultra-low-flush toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush; some flush with less than a gallon. (See "Water-Wise Toilets," June/July 2002.) Don't flush paper towels, feminine sanitary products and other slow -to-degrade materials, like cat litter, in the toilet.

Finally: Don't Flush that Fertilizer! Consider buying a composting toilet to keep blackwater, which contains the most potential pathogens, out of wastewater entirely. In some states, installing a composting toilet allows you to construct a smaller, less expensive leach field.

If your state doesn't yet permit composting toilets, instead of flushing urine down the drain, where it pollutes waterways and chokes off ponds and lakes, you easily can capture urine's valuable nutrients to enrich garden growth and boost backyard compost-bin activity.

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