1985-03-22 Letter, Condition of Septic System

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Jan Gibson % Norwest Mortgage March 22, 1985 Page 3 per 2 square feet of bottom area. . . . 0.6 x 600 s.f. x 1 x 1 GPD = 120 GPD 1.5 2 s.f. Under these assumptions, the system would be capable of handling 120 gallons per day. Now, I haven't even touched on the variability of water use among families with dissimilar habits. I know of families of 4 that use only 100 gallons per day total, or 25 GPD/per person. I also know of a family of 10 in Orono whose average water use rate for the period July 1983 to January 1985 was over 110 gallons per day per person. Which typical family is moving into 65 Cygnet P1,ce? How many gallons per day will they use? Is a 120 gallon per day system adequate for them? It apparently was for the last family in the house, since we have no record or evidence of past problems with the system, yet we did on the most recent inspection note that the system appearAd over - full; we can only surmise that this is due to any of a number of factors - totally saturated soils at the present time, a plugged tank outlet pipe, or maybe very low acceptance due to natural biomat build- up, or . . . .? I recommended that the tanks be pumped, which they now have been, which will give the drainfield a chance to recover a bit. I do not believe that this pumpout will have a long term effect on the continued functioning of the system, but should ensure that a new owner starts out with relatively solids -free tanks. The two tanks appear to be 1000-plus and 750 gallons in capacity respectively. It is impossible without digging them up and removing the covers to tell whether the baffle:, are still in place. It appears they do not have solid bottoms and are probably subject to some interference by seasonal saturation. Current codes for a new house would require sealed, precast 1-piece tanks rather than these site -built tanks which are not sealed. To summarize, they will likely continue to function but not as well as new tanks would. Within the City of Orono are about 1,050 septic systems. Roughly 80% of these were installed (or still use components that were installed) prior to 1978, when the code changed to require soil test- ing and up-to-date system design, construction and maintenance -tan- dards. However, the code does recognize "grandfathered" systems, and where an existing substandard system is still functional and does not create a healtr_ safety or welfare problem or an unsanitary condition or pollution hazard, we do not require upgrading of the system except to add the necessary tank inspection pipes.