A couple of years ago, our clay became so saturated with moisture from snow melt, that our leech field was unable to do it's job. With that comes the most awful situation of having your septic tank back up. (A quick primer: septic tank has 2 chambers, the first holds solids, the second is overflow for fluids which overflows into a series of hole pipes allowing the fluids to filter and 'leech' back into the ground.) We called in help. We had our septic tank pumped. We had our leech field lines blown out. But the professionals could only advise contacting an engineer to design a system to prevent this from happening.
Since I didn't have $40-60K sitting around, I researched alternative methods to solve my problem.
Between the research, professional advice and looking at our micro-climate, I realized we have a problem with how much water the ground could sustain. I managed to convince my husband that the quickest solution was re-routing our water softener and washing machine water through a 500 gallon tank for distribution at our convenience.
This solved two problems.
First, our softener system left salt residue in the water which could be causing our leech field to glaze, much like pottery. There was no way to really know this without bringing in serious equipment to dig up the field and analyze the soil. Nope, I didn't have time, or money for that. But, most professionals will recommend you NOT route your softener water into your septic system.
Second, we were using the mass quantity of laundry water to dilute the salt water, as well as penetrate our clay soil. Clay can be full of nutrients but is so compact that it holds water (instead of draining) or it can dry out to the point of water not penetrating the surface.
This water is wonderful for helping my natural landscaping receive the water it needed in times of drought as well as saving me a lot of money fixing a system that wasn't necessarily broken. It just needed an owner that was smart enough to work with the environment!
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