" To be a leader in any service industry, a company must remain sensative to the needs and concerns of it's customers".

Today's septic systems customers are fully aware that their septic system represents one of the many ways they interface directly with the environment. They view the septic system, in modern terms, as an appliance. It performs a service as a part of the total confort system of their homes and businesses. They understand that responsible decisions with regard to the care and maintenance of their septic system will have a posiive impact on Precious ground water, and on the economic plans they have for their families and businesses as well. This flyer provides information to help our customers make those decisions. Please read it carefully and keep it on file as a reference.

An Overview

Your septic system, when compared to urban and suburban living areas, functions as a mini sewer system, and as a mini waste treatment plant. All household waste is disposed to the septic system.

The termination point of your septic system is the environment. What you put into your septic system and how you choose to maintain it are important.

Your septic system is buried in the ground and consists of some piping, a watertight tank and a leaching field.

The septic tank was first introduced in England about 1900. It organically decomposes waste matter through bacterial action. The bacteria required to do the work enter the tank with normal household waste.

The leaching field consists of a network of perforated pipes laid just under the surface of the ground in a pattern on a bed of gravel. In a healthy system, clear water exits the septic tank and enters the perforated pipe network of the leaching field. It drains into the gravel, is absorbed by the surrounding soil and evaporates up into the air above the field. If anything other than clear water exits your septic tank into the leaching field piping, both the leaching field and the environment suffer.

What Can Go Wrong?

First, let's compare a healthy septic tank and a septic tank which is unhealthy.

A septic tank is a watertight box. When household waste enters this box, organic material floats to the surface where bacteria biologically convert it to liquid. We will call this the floating layer. Inorganic material and by-products of bacterial digestion do not float. They sink to the bottom of the tank and accumulate, creating a sludge layer. Water entering the tank occupies the space between the floating layer and the sludge layer. A large clear water layer is important in a healthy septic tank.

Trouble begins when material from either the floating layer or the sludge layer exits the septic tank to the leaching field. This will clog the field's piping system and bring harmful unprocessed waste in contact with ground soils and ground water.

What To Do

A properly designed and maintained septic system is environmentally friendly and requires no major economic expense over the course of a lifetime.

Septic system maintenance has two parts. First, the sludge layer that accumulates at the bottom of your tank ...

This maintains the size of the water layer and eliminates any possibility of sludge entering and clogging your leaching field thus contaminating the environment. There is no additive or home remedy to reduce the sludge layer. Replacing your leaching field is an enormous expense and inconvenience. The second part of septic system maintenance involves the bacteria necessary for digesting organic solids in the floating layer.

They are very sensitive to many home care products and commonly used chemicals. We call these products and chemicals "Anti Septics". If the bacteria are killed or not present in sufficient numbers to digest the floating layer and maintain its size, these harmful solids will exit your tank, clog your leaching field and harm the environment. Anti Septics include: