Michael1942's Blog

We have a sewer system which is pretty common in areas where the city limits lead to open fields and sparse housing. The downside is that we have to maintain this system. This starts with using the right kind of paper products, not using a lot of bleach in the laundry, using a laundry detergent that free of  dyes and  dumping a cake of baking yeast in the system once each month. In spite of this the system has to be pumped out once in every 5 to 10 years depending on the size of the holding system. The system has 2 tanks, the first one contains the out flow from the house drains and toilets along with the used paper and a small amount of food waste. These solids eventually drop to te bottom of the tank and decompose into a muck. The liquids when full enough flow through a pipe that contains  a screen or baffle that keeps the solids ( primarily paper) from flowing into the second tank. The second tank has an electrically operated pump which is activated by a float then pumps the water into a leach field where the water leaches into the ground. This leach field covers a large area so there are no puddles unless certain other solids have clogged the lines (called laterals).  The end of this is, now the pump has died and needs to be replaced but the waste water has to be pumped out into the yard in which case the grass will be greener this year.