1986-04-02 Letter, Inspection of Septic System

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5) The drainfield appears to be extremely substandard in size and construction. Records indicate 150' cf 2' wide drainfield, or 300 s.f., was installed. This is perhaps 1/3 or 1/4 the size drainfielc: that would be installed today for this house, based on the soils and the number of bedrooms in the house. (Hennepin County Soil. Survey indicates Ki lke-- y loam soils, which genera 1 _' y have a very slow percolation rate perhaps 45 minutes per inch or slower. This translates to 330 s.f. of drainfield required per bedroom, based on 2 people per bedroom at 75 gallons per day per person. A 4 bedroom house woul,' need a 1300 s.f. drainfield under these assumptions.) 6) It appears that the drainfield may run downhill, evidenced by the fact that when I probed to find the end of the drainfield in the woods, noting an area where some sep-age of effluent was occuring, probing down about 18" to the ro- .3ed ca.ised a release of pressure and the drainfield began to mor-. rapidly seep to th•-- surface (see sketch). This portion of the drainfield it saturated to the surface, most likely because the drainfield runs downhill and perhaps because there is less cover over the drainfield. This drainfield is in poor condition at best and appears that it has a high potential for failure, in that it is currently only barely keeping up with the effluent load and during the current relatively wet ground conditions is discharging to the surface. Since tnis is the first indication that the system is failing, the City will re -inspect in 30 days and again in 60 days to see whet:1er the condition clears up. If not, orders to repair will be issued, soil testing will be required, ane the system will likely be required to he brought into total code conformance. Please contact me if you have any questions. Sincerely, Michael P. Gaffron Assistant Zoning Administrator