11-20-2020 Septic Design - Laserfiche WebLink

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UNIVERSITY Septic System Management Plan ` OF MINNESOTA for Below Grade Systems Homeowner Management Tasks These operation and maintenance activities are your responsibility. Chart on page 6 can help track your activities. Your toilet is not a garbage can. Do not flush anything besides human waste and toilet paper. No wet wipes, cigarette butts, disposal diapers, used medicine, feminine products or other trash! The system and septic tanks needs to be checked every 24 months Your service provider or pumper/maintainer should evaluate if your tank needs to be pumped more or less often. Seasonally or several times per year Leaks. Check (listen, look) for leaks in toilets and dripping faucets. Repair leaks promptly. Soil treatment area. Regularly check for wet or spongy soil around your soil treatment area. If surfaced sewage or strong odors are not corrected by pumping the tank or fixing broken caps and leaks, call your service professional. Untreated sewage may make humans and animals sick. Keep bikes, snowmobiles and other traffic off and control borrowing animals. Alarms. Alarms signal when there is a problem; contact your service professional any time the alarm signals. Lint filter. If you have a lint filter, check for lint buildup and clean when necessary. If you do not have one, consider adding one after washing machine. Effluent screen. If you do not have one, consider having one installed the next time the tank is cleaned along with an alarm. Annually • Water usage rate. A water meter or another device can be used to monitor your average daily water use. Compare your water usage rate to the design flow of your system (listed on the next page). Contact your septic professional if your average daily flow over the course of a month exceeds 70% of the design flow for your system. • Caps. Make sure that all caps and lids are intact and in place. Inspect for damaged caps at least every fall. Fix or replace damaged caps before winter to help prevent freezing issues. • Water conditioning devices. See Page 5 for a list of devices. When possible, program the recharge frequency based on water demand (gallons) rather than time (days). Recharging too frequently may negatively impact your septic system Consider updating to demand operation if your system currently uses time, • Review your water usage rate. Review the Water Use Appliance chart on Page 5. Discuss any major changes with your service provider or pumper/maintainer. During each visit by a service provider or pumper/maintainer • Make sure that your service professional services the tank through the manhole. (NOT though a 4" or 6" diameter inspection port.) • Ask how full your tank was with sludge and scum to determine if your service interval is appropriate. Ask your pumper/maintainer to accomplish the tasks listed on the Professional Tasks on Page 4. -3-