You may be wondering, why on earth do I need a perc test? Some people say “back in the good old days you didn't have to do all this just to have a place to live”. I understand that sometimes jumping through hoops just to be able to build a house or put in a mobile home on land you own can be very frustrating. So I wanted to take some time to give you a fresh perspective on why having an engineer come out to your property and evaluate the soil conditions and other factors for an onsite sewage disposal system is important.

                Many years ago when our world was less populated and people tended to live on larger tracts of land, sewage treatment in areas where city sewer was not available was not as big of an issue because there were fewer people and less density in those areas to cause a noticeably harmful effect on the environment.  But as our population has grown and areas where city sewage systems are not accessible to people become more densely populated, failing onsite sewage systems become a problem due to more untreated human waste product being dumped back into the environment in closer proximity to other people, placing contaminates into the water supply making it much more difficult for the water to be treated to a standard acceptable for human consumption.

                Running the sewer pipe out the back of a dwelling is a guaranteed way to place harmful pollutants into the environment and local water supply. Also, homemade septic systems often fail and cause sewage water(effluent) to surface to the top of the ground untreated only to be washed into a nearby stream, creek, or other tributary and from there untreated back into the environment and possible the local water supply. Also, it should be noted that when an illegal system is installed and has not been approved by the health department, just because the effluent is not surfacing on the ground does not mean that the system is working correctly. It is possible that the system does not have the proper setbacks from the seasonal water table or other restrictive layers in the soil to ensure proper treatment before re-entering the groundwater of the local community.

                Untreated sewage has been proven to without a doubt cause health problems. It is definitely worth the investment in your property, family, and the local community to ensure you have taken the necessary steps to provide the cleanest healthiest environment possible by installing a legal and functional onsite sewage system for your home, mobile home, hunting cabin, or any other property you own that produces human waste.

                I understand that in today’s world, environmental regulations can feel overbearing and unnecessary at times and I would agree that some of these regulations are out of hand but when it comes to sewage, I think we all can agree that untreated human waste is a real problem that needs to be dealt with appropriately.