Drain fields play a vital role in removing wastewater and sewage from your property and are a crucial part of a septic system. A well-functioning drain field helps avoid unpleasant odors, prevents waterlogging, and ensures proper wastewater treatment, promoting a healthier environment overall.
The septic system also manages runoff on your residence and protects plants and animals. As long as you practice proper wastewater management, eco-friendly septic care, soil-ecosystem balance, and proper wastewater maintenance, your drain field can last up to 50 years.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how drain fields work and how proper maintenance can help you practice responsible sewage disposal.
What is a Drain Field?
A leach field is one of the major segments of a septic system that acts as a disposal filter for organic material. It’s extremely crucial for effectively removing and managing sewage from the wastewater management system.
What Happens to Untreated Wastewater?
Untreated wastewater in your landscape can enter your water supply in two ways. First, if your well cap is chipped, unsecured, or cracked, the sewage could leak into your well through it. Secondly, your drainfield overflows and can’t filter the drain water properly due to oversaturation from clogs and blockages. In that case, the contaminated water seeps into the groundwater, polluting not only your water source but that of your neighbors as well.
The Importance of Regular Drain Field Maintenance
Drain fields effectively treat sewage and wastewater. Solids in sewage are removed through settling and bacterial digestion in the septic system, leaving only the liquid waste behind. During the wastewater management process, sewage is pumped into perforated pipes that are buried deep beneath the ground. As the waste travels through the pipes, it is scattered over a larger surface area, slowly undergoing soil absorption over time.
Leach fields, more popularly known as drain fields, are assembled with a series of trenches(usually 18 to 36 inches deep) arranged in a grid pattern. Within these trenches, perforated pipes are buried in a layer of gravel beneath the soil’s surface, allowing the drain water to be absorbed at a prescribed rate as it passes through. The soil strains bacteria from underground water bodies as the water is absorbed, preventing pathogens from getting into the water sources.
Common Signs of Leach Field Failure
When your residential septic system is long due for a proper drain field inspection, maintenance, and repair, it can lead to many expensive problems.
Some common signs of a leach field failure include
- Green, lush grass over the drain field. In most cases, it is greener than the rest of the lawn.
- A slow-running drain or a plumbing backup.
- The surrounding area is wet, muddy, soft, or even has standing/pooling water.
- Foul sewage odor near or around drains, tanks, sinks, or the leach field.
- High levels of nitrates and contaminants in the well water.
Dangers of Contaminated Water
If the sheer thought of drinking water contaminated by your own feces doesn’t motivate you enough to schedule an appointment with Crews Environmental today, many other dire issues will.
Wastewater and sewage contain harmful bacteria and viruses that cause hepatitis, typhoid fever, and dysentery. Plus, drain water is high in nitrogen and phosphorus, which can lead to blue baby syndrome, a condition without oxygen in a baby’s blood.
The health of your young children could be at stake if you neglect your septic system. You also put the local environment at risk, most likely damaging or killing off plants in the area.
Additionally, your kids and neighbors may have to face waste effluent if the leach field overflows and groundwater enters, leaving them at risk of developing diseases.
Tips for Preventative Drain Maintenance
Efficient wastewater treatment and well-maintained septic tanks remove the bacteria and pathogens that cause harmful diseases and infections, ensuring your drinking water remains contaminant-free. For responsible sewage disposal and to effectively keep the contamination at bay, schedule regular septic pumping and inspection appointments by a credible service provider like Crews Environmental. Preventative drain field maintenance by a septic professional helps prevent clogs and blockages in your septic system.
Some quick tips for effective wastewater management include,
- Avoid flushing chemicals or medicines down the toilet, as they could enter the wastewater.
- Stop treating your toilet like a garbage disposal.
- Don’t allow heavy vehicles, equipment, RVs, grazing animals, boats, or outbuildings to occupy the area above your drain field.
- Inspect your well water regularly for potentially harmful pathogens or bacteria. Also, ensure your septic system and drinking water well are a suitable distance apart.
- Reduce the risk of heavy-duty cleaners as they can affect the healthy bacteria that break down the waste, causing wastewater to seep into the drainfield.
- Pouring FOGs (grease, fats, and oils) down your kitchen drain is one of the worst things you can do with your septic system. Once it cools down and solidifies, it will cause clogs and blockages. Instead of discarding cooled grease directly, transfer it into a container. Once it solidifies, dispose of it in the trash for optimal drain field function.
- Most importantly, keep your septic system maintained with skilled professionals like those at Crews Environmental.
Get a Free Consultation from Crews Environmental
If you need a leach field or septic inspection, repair, pumping, and maintenance, contact the professionals at Crews Environmental. We’re licensed, bonded, insured, and certified to provide service to conventional septic systems and all of the most popularly used Aerobic Treatment Units (ATUs) and Performance Based Treatment Systems (PBTS) authorized in Florida.
In addition to residential and commercial septic services, our expert team also provides grease trap cleaning, sewage treatment, efficient wastewater treatments, plumbing emergencies, and complete maintenance solutions to ensure the smooth operation of your systems. Our goal is to ensure a quick, precise, and timely response to all your septic questions and concerns by being available in your area 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Contact us at 239-329-8996 to schedule an appointment with our team today.