standing water in leach field

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concretegardenstx
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:15 pm

There is standing water in our leach field. The ground is super saturated, and it's so muddy that my husband cannot mow back there. Also, there is a lovely odor. Any ideas of what could be causing this? We have had record amounts of rainfall, I don't know if that will affect the evaporation, or if there is something I should check out. We haven't had any problems with water backing up in the house, or gurgling, or smells in the house. Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
Rhonda
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:37 am

We too have that issue. I am in ND however. We had record moisture levels all winter, spring and summer. It started standing water in about April last year. I was told by our sewer guy that it was due to moisture levels. Well, this spring, we have standing water again and were pumping the septic tank in the winter. Unfortunately, our drain field is full. We will be adding a "leg" to it shortly to fix the problem. We too did not have any gurgling or smells in the home. When we had the drain field first installed they said the average life of it is about 10 years and we had it made larger than needed. Eleven years later, we need a new one. Best of luck to you.
concretegardenstx
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:15 pm

After a personal inspection, I don't really see standing water, but it does look muddy in places. There is a nice blanket of leaves covering the area, and I'm wondering, could these be acting as a mulch, keeping the water in the ground? I do plan on raking it all up to see, but thought I'd post my update. :wink:
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Greg
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Leach fields rely on evaporation to work correctly. the tank collects solids and liquids should flow into the leach field and evaporate. You could try having the tank pumped as a temporary cure, that would act as a holding tank until it refills and starts flowing into the leach field again. with luck the ground may be drier by then.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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flcruising
Posts: 606
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: Florida Panhandle

Actually, the drainfield is there to facilitate the wastewater percolating down into the soil.

If it's reaching the surface, then the soil is either super-saturated from the rain and not allowing any more to penetrate, or in our circumstance, drawing too many whirlpool baths and loads of laundry in a short time.

I had to put half of our house (thankfully the high-use fixtures are all on one side of the house) on a yard drain, and the baths continue to use the septic system.

If your situation is from rain, then there's not much to do besides waiting for the weather to change. Otherwise, you may look into enlarging your drainfield.

Here's a read about septics and simple steps you can follow to spread out your usage so you don't overload the system - http://www.epa.gov/owm/septic/pubs/home ... e_long.pdf
[color=blue]Aaron[/color]
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