Septic Tank System Tips and FAQs
Tips to Ensure You Do Not Overload Your Septic System in Georgian Bay, Muskoka, and Nearby Areas
With everyone spending a lot more time at home and trying to keep COVID-19 at bay, the load on your septic system will be increased.
- More food is being prepared at home.
- More people are washing more dishes, doing more laundry, taking more showers and all this extra water is going down drains and increasing the stress on septic systems.
Here are some recommended strategies that can help reduce the stress on your septic system and prevent overloading it:
Never flush personal wipes or disinfecting wipes down the toilet.
In an effort to prevent the virus from spreading, many families are using higher than normal amounts of disinfectants like bleach in the laundry, and flushing disinfecting wipes down the toilet. The chemicals used in the wipes are toxic to the microbiology and treatment in the septic tank. In high enough concentrations, this will result in poor quality effluent leaving the septic tank, which will accelerate clogging of the leach field. Dispose of wipes in the solid waste instead.
Minimize the amount of bleach used in the laundry.
Try to keep it under 1 Cup (250mL) per day.
Use a laundry detergent instead of powder.
Powder detergents often don’t dissolve very well, and can travel through the septic tank and clog up the leach field lines.
Use regular soap for hand washing.
There is no need to use soap containing anti-bacterial agents which are toxic to the microbes in your septic tank system. If you have been thinking you need to wash your clothes after outing for fresh air reconsider – if you went for a walk in your neighbourhood and didn’t come within 30 feet of another human being and didn’t touch any public surfaces, then it is highly unlikely your clothes are contaminated. When you do wash your clothes, try to save them up until you have a larger load rather than doing many small washes.
Take short 5 minute showers.
Instead of having a bath, which uses more water.
Don’t use chemical products in your toilet tank.
Do not use chemical disinfection pucks which turn the water blue – stop using them.
Fix leaky plumbing fixtures immediately, especially toilet flappers.
Leaky plumbing can allow hundreds of gallons of water to leak into your septic system!
Don’t use the kitchen garbage disposal.
This increases the loading of organic waste to your septic system considerably. Instead, dispose of food waste in your curtsied compost, outdoor compost, or solid waste.
If you have not had your septic tank pumped out in the past several years…
Contact Georgian Bay Septic & Barging and arrange to get it done as soon as possible. The tank should be pumped out regularly or the large scum / sludge can be drawn into the tile bed, eventually overloading the system. This can lead to partially treated wastewater appearing directly on the ground surface. Sewage will contaminate the soil and water supply, including your well or a neighbour’s.
The same situation can happen if too much water is dumped into the tank. Excess household chemicals, soaps and detergents, can also kill the bacterial action in the septic tank and affect its ability to process waste.
When your septic service professional is on-site for the pumping, ask them to check for signs of overloading or stress on the system, including things like:
- higher than normal levels in the septic tank
- back-flow into the tank from the leach field
- signs of past high levels such as debris on top of the inlet or outlet baffles or tees, or high water marks
- unusual smells or lack of a healthy looking scum mat (the crust which normally is present floating on top)
evidence of surface water or ground water infiltrating into the tank.
While there is no guarantee that follow the above practices will prevent you from becoming the victim of a septic disaster, they will at least help to reduce your risk.