Water and Waste Management Systems Part II
By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell
Last week, I posted about water sources. This week, we’ll discuss what to do with the wastewater.
We put in a standard septic system with lateral lines that seep into the ground. We really didn’t have a choice, but for us, I think it was the best one anyway.
Although our land had been in my family, ownership was technically transferring, so we had to adhere to modern codes. Others in our area who have held their land prior to code laws are grandfathered and can even still build outhouses if they wish.
I believe we only had to have an acre to place a septic on our property when we build our Little House, but today our county requires at least three acres.
This happened with property my parents owned on another lake in Kansas as well. Landowners weren’t grandfathered when codes were made more restrictive and their 1- acre lot became virtually worthless on the real estate market.
Septic systems are also the most expensive, I believe ours cost about $4,000 nearly 7 years ago. We did have one installed bigger than recommended, which is a plus since we added another bathroom when we built the office. The load supported a second bath and if we hadn’t done that, we would have either had to replace the tank with a bigger model or tossed the idea of a second bath altogether.
We don’t have a gray water system, but I hope to install one at some point. We treat the septic once a month with RidX, as recommended and haven’t had any problems. We also haven’t had it pumped and we will most likely look into that this year.
We did have issues when they were digging for places where the septic would “perk,” (meaning the soil would drain the water) we ended up with more trees cleared than we wanted, as our project manager had them clear the trees before testing our first choice for a septic site, so it is advisable to have several sites tested if you want to keep trees in tact.
The placement of the septic system has caused us a few issues as you cannot put the tank or lateral lines anywhere you might have to drive over, or build over. As well, the placement of the septic was a huge issue when deciding where to dig the well, which had to be dug at least 1,000 yards from the septic and lines on a grade where the waste was not contaminating the well water. A little tricky on the side of a mountain.
Here are a couple of other ideas for waste disposal:
- Wastewater Lagoons: These are basically wastewater ponds and could use a standard septic system, but instead of having lateral lines that seep into the ground as ours does, the wastewater goes into a pond. When we were looking at property in Kansas, we looked at many rural properties with these. The plus side to this is that if it is used without the septic tank, it is more economical. The downside is you have to treat the water and well, you have a visible pond of wastewater on your property. Codes in your area may also not allow them for individual property owners.
- Composting Toilets: The one thing I couldn’t stand when we were campers was taking that portable toilet and then having to deal with the waste. Composting toilets are now more affordable, odorless and deals with waste in an environmentally friendly way.
We would like to hear about your wastewater systems.
Kerri’s Little House in the Big Woods is featured in the December/January issue of Mother Earth News starting on page 68. She blogs about life in 480-square feet at www.livinglargeinourlittlehouse.com