Septic System maintenance and preventing soil contamination.

What is a Septic System? It is a system that is typically underground where sewage is collected from the household taken to a septic tank and allowed to decompose through bacterial activity within the tank before draining the waste water into a drain field or any other form of system that are set. Generally depending on the type of system you have installed the county will require you to have frequent inspections to make sure the system is working efficiently and the tank is still intact. Water can leak into the soil causing soil contamination through sewage overflow from the septic tank and leaking sewer lines due to deficiencies in the system.  Also leak of the sewage water mixing into drinking water can cause diseases through consumptions.  What can cause these leaks? Poor Placement  of the leachfield which is where the water is dispersed to from the tank, the leach field has to be placed a certain length from any source of drinking water, as well they need to be placed where there will not be people driving over it. Another cause could be a system failure, if the system is not inspected frequently which can result in malfunction through clogging. The problems caused by a failure of septic system are spreading of sewage born disease such as cholera, typhoid fever and gastroenteritis through soil and water contamination from the waste water. Several ways to prevent soil contamination from a septic system are to avoid planting trees near drain lines. Be careful of the chemicals used to maintain the septic system, it will destroy the bacteria that is suppose to break down the material in the septic tank, which can lead to malfunction of the system leading to seepage of the sewage. Check with your county on how often you should have your septic system inspected and also pumped.