25% of the us households are on septic systems.

A Septic System is an Individual Sanitation Distribution System or ISDS
An ISDS is basically comprised of two parts>

The tank is the first part of your system. The tank is a water tight vessel made out of concrete, fiberglass, plastic often times with a baffle to make it into a two compartment system. Also on the inlet and outlet you have a plumbing T. The T, allows everything to drop in the tank for processing. Everything in your house goes to the tank first. The tank is always full of liquid from water, waste, toilet paper, fabric from the wash, and anything else you the homeowner put down the drain. It is important to note that the system is designed to handle digested food waste, not undigested food mater from a disposal. Once it processes the middle layer of liquid called effluent, spills out to the leach field.
The leach field or absorption bed, is the second part of your system. It takes the liquid from the tank, and distributes it in pipes that drain it back in to the earth. The earth purifies the water before it reaches the water table.

Diagram of tank and leach field

The reason you pump the tank is to keep sludge and inorganic particles from building up and migrating out to your field. Leach fields are expensive to replace. The reason you periodically pump a tank is to keep the field as clean as possible. The table below shows approximate time you should pump your tank according to how most counties showing how many people in the house and how big your system is. Note, the table is if you are not using a garbage disposal. Unless you have a very old system, the county health department
should have records of how big your system is and where the tank is, according to the installation drawings.

ISDS Do’s

• Do if possible use a single ply toilet paper.
• Do spread water usage out. Example, do one load of laundry every couple of days.
• Do conserve water.
• Do fix leaky faucets and toilets.
• Do use cleaning supplies and bleach in moderate amounts. If you are afraid that you are using too many chemicals use Septic Treat to add bacteria back to your septic system. Use of septic treat instead of an over
  the counter treatment like Ridex, is better for your system because it contains no fillers and is stronger.
• Do pump your tank on a regular basis. Have broken T’s fixed if broken.
• Do dispose of paint, antifreeze, oil, and other such substances through recycling plant not your septic tank
• Do use septic treat as a drain cleaner, once a month in a different drain.

ISDS Don’ts

• Don’t park anything on your leach field due to compaction.
• Don’t plant trees too close to leach field. The roots will infiltrate lateral lines.
• Don’t use a leach field as a pasture for livestock.
• Don’t use your system as a disposal site for any hazardous waste, oil, antifreeze, etc.

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