Thanksgiving in Smithtown: fourteen people, the dishwasher running for the third time, every shower in use the next morning. If the drains are slow by Friday, it is not bad luck. A cesspool or leaching pool can only soak water into the sand so fast, and everything you do inside the house decides how hard you are pushing it.
In the kitchen
The EPA’s SepticSmart advice starts at the sink:
- Keep grease, cooking oil, coffee grounds and household chemicals out of the sink.
- Let grease harden in a container and put it in the trash.
- Go easy on the garbage disposal. Quality Cesspool says a disposal can add up to 50% more sludge, and suggests pumping a year sooner than you otherwise would.
In the bathroom
The EPA’s list of things to throw away instead of flushing: feminine hygiene products, dental floss, diapers and medications. Quality Cesspool adds that “flushable” wipes do not break down in a septic system, whatever the package says.
Water use is the other half
Every gallon that goes down a drain has to leave through the ring or the leaching pool. The EPA suggests spreading out water-heavy chores instead of running the washer, dishwasher and showers at once, and fixing leaks. A running toilet sends water into the system all day.
The yard above it
- Keep cars, trucks and heavy equipment off the system. The EPA says this for drain fields, and the Long Island Liquid Waste Association, in a 2013 27east report, said heavy loads near a cesspool are one of the things that bring on collapses.
- Ask a septic professional how far from the system to plant trees and shrubs, as the EPA suggests.
- Stay off the area after heavy rain, snow or the spring thaw. The association called those the most common times for cesspools to collapse.
- If the ground over the system starts to settle or sink, keep people away and call a licensed company.
Skip the additives
Shelves at the hardware store are full of cesspool treatments. Quality Cesspool says additives are unnecessary for a system that is properly sized and maintained. Oregon State University Extension goes further, citing the EPA: additives can interfere with the natural breakdown already happening in the tank, can lead to clogs and failure, and chemical ones can contaminate groundwater. A tank already has the bacteria it needs.
Keep a simple record
The EPA says to keep maintenance records and to write down the sludge and scum levels the service professional finds. A one-page log with dates, gallons pumped and those levels tells you, and any future buyer, how the system is really doing.
Newer systems need a yearly visit
If you have a nitrogen-reducing system, the care plan is not optional. Suffolk’s program says the homeowner must have it maintained at least once a year by a licensed service provider. Nassau’s FAQ says the same yearly inspection and maintenance applies, with an agreement in place for the life of the system.