 Over half of Vermonters have on-site wastewater treatment systems called septic systems. That's more than any other state. Properly maintained, a septic system can last for over two decades. Poorly maintained or damaged septic systems, however, can fail potentially contaminating drinking water wells and surface waters and requiring expensive repairs. Learn how to keep your septic system working well for the long run. This video will teach you how to tell if you have a septic system, how it works, and how to protect it to last for years. A septic system is a small wastewater treatment facility. What happens after you flush the toilet or do the dishes? In a basic system, water and waste run out of your house through a drainage pipe and flow into a septic tank, which is a buried watertight container that allows settling and separation of liquid wastewater from solid and oily wastes. The liquid wastewater flows from the septic tank into the drain field, where the wastewater percolates into the soil, where naturally occurring microbes remove harmful bacteria, viruses, and nutrients. Let's follow licensed site designer Steve Pro of Septic Pro as he inspects a residential septic system to learn more about how to care for your septic system. Most of the service calls we get are from people who put things they shouldn't be putting down in the drains. The only thing you should be going down is toilet paper. Baby wipes, towels, even if they say flushable or septic safe, they're not. Personal hygiene products shouldn't be going down in the drains. Kitty litter shouldn't be going down in the drains. The only thing that should be going down in the drains, human waste and toilet paper, if you can remember that one thing out of this, that's what I'd remember. The septic tank is designed to hold wastewater long enough to allow solids to settle to the bottom as a sludge, and to allow oils and grease to float on top in a scum layer. In the middle, between the sludge and scum, is the clarified liquid effluent. Multiple compartments, baffles, a T-shaped outlet, and effluent filters help prevent sludge and scum from leaving the tank and traveling to the drain field. If you do not have enough separation between the sludge and scum layers, and the effluent leaving the tank is not clear, your drain lines can become clogged and cause system failure. The sludge in the tank is broken down by naturally occurring bacteria in human waste. While this does not eliminate solids, it does reduce their volume. Sludge and scum must be periodically removed from the tank to maintain proper function. Wipes, paper towels, things like that, they don't tend to sink down. Although they're heavy and you think they'd sink down, they actually float to the top. A lot of times where they will clog is where the pipe from the house enters the septic tank. That's where you get most of the backups, because you get too much mass start slowing down the flow and building up. Things that you're putting down the drains in the house affect the way the septic tank works. Large amounts of ammonia, cleaning products, paint, they end up at the septic tank and they kill the good bacteria that's breaking down that waste water. Leech fields or drain fields come in many different shapes and sizes, but the basic design is perforated piping buried in the ground that allows wastewater to percolate through soils. Some circumstances such as limited space, clay soils, or shallow depth to groundwater may require a more complicated system such as a raised mound or bottomless sand filter system, which looks like a raised box of filter material. Whatever kind of leech field you may have, know where it is and protect it. Not sure where your leech field is? Look at your home's wastewater system as built drawing, which should include the placement of the septic tank and leech field. More recently built homes likely have permit documents on file with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. If you may contact the department for help locating your permit documents and plans, you can also look in your yard for lids or manhole covers. These are likely to be access points for your septic tank or a septic system service provider can help you find where your system is located. So a leech field is where your filtration occurs. This is where your treatment happens. If you're lucky you'll have septic plans. You may not have a map leech field. You have to find it yourself. We use pipe cameras and locators. We use special transmitters that we may flush down the pipes so we can find the leech field. We also, you know, if you have a sharp metal object that you can kind of push in the ground, sometimes you can feel the leech field underneath the ground. Once you know where your leech field is, protect it. Keep shallow rooted vegetation over the leech field. You do not want deep roots damaging your leech field. If a leech field is overloaded with too much liquid, it will flood causing sewage to flow to the ground surface or backing up into the tank and into your house. You have wastewater that's surfacing. It's essentially raw sewage. As a system ages, it creates what they call a biomat. All the bacteria, maybe particles that have gotten through the tank end up at the bottom of that leech field where the stones and the soils interface creates a biomat. The leech field starts ponding. If the leech field is ponding, you know, in the stones, that's normal process. As the leech field ages, that liquid level starts failing up the sides and liquid level starts getting close to the surface. When that liquid level is close to the surface, as long as it's below the surface, the state views that as a legally operating system. Once it breaches the surface, that constitutes a fail system. So if you find any areas around the leech field that have ponded water or you step on it and it's spongy and waters, you know, you can feel that it's wet. Your system is either at failure or near failure and you probably should have a professional take a look at it before someone gets sick or, you know, you start causing environmental issues. Contrary to popular opinion, a septic tank is full. It should be full. A lot of people will ask, well, does my septic tank need to be pumped? Oh my God, it's just full. Well, that's the way the septic tank operates. It should be full. Anything lighter than water is going to come to the top. Anything heavier than water goes to the bottom. If the septic tank wasn't full, that process couldn't happen. Now every two to three years, as a rule of thumb, you should have your septic tank pumped so that we can start those layers again because over time, those scum layers accumulate and get thicker and thicker. The scum layer on the bottom, same process is happening. That layer starts getting thicker and thicker. Well, you don't want those two layers coming together. You want that clear, effluent layer going out to your leach field. So every two to three years, you pump your septic tank and you start fresh. Water comes in and the separation process begins again. If you don't, those two layers come together and you could be releasing scum or sludge to your leach field. Regular maintenance can keep your septic system working well for many years. The frequency of pumping and other maintenance will depend somewhat on how many people use your system, its size and how well you keep other things out of the drain. Regardless of your system particulars, it pays to conduct regular maintenance rather than wait until your system fails and face the cost of replacement. The maintaining your septic system is to your benefit. The longer that system lasts, the less money you're going to spend on it in the long run. If you weigh the costs of having the septic tank pumped every two to three years, watch what you're putting down your drains, having the septic tank pumped every two to three years at two to three hundred dollars versus replacing the septic system every fifteen years at twenty thousand dollars, I think you'll find the costs of just simply maintaining, caring for your system, maintaining it far outweigh the costs of neglect. In Vermont it can be difficult to access septic tanks and leach fields in the winter to perform emergency service. The fall is a good time to get your system serviced to ensure your system is ready for guests over the holidays. Because over half of Vermont homes have septic systems, home buyers are very likely to encounter homes that have them. A septic system can be a very expensive part of a home and it requires just as much attention and consideration as the condition of the roof or foundation. If you're looking to buy a house in Vermont and it does have a septic system in it, I would suggest getting a septic inspection done. You know, at a minimum, try to get as many records as you can. See if there's any plans with the states, any permits. Find out when the tank was last pumped. You know, some of these basic items may help you. Find out more about your septic system, how it was cared for. There's also companies like ours across the state who will provide a septic inspection. So before you purchase a property, just like you have a home inspection, you can have a septic inspection done. You can also consult the EPA's new home buyers guide to septic systems for information you should know before buying a home with a septic system. Where can you get more information? Visit www.epa.gov.septic or www.septic.vt.gov or call the DEC Environmental Assistance Line at 802-249-526-0.