Soil Evaluation And Permitting

Soil Evaluation And Permitting Step By Step

During home construction, unless your new property can be joined with the municipal sewer system, you will most likely have to install a septic system to do the job of disposing of waste instead. A crucial step that must be followed to ensure that everything is up to code is to go through a soil evaluation and permitting, usually handled through your local environmental services board or county health or development councils.

Want to know more about the requirements for soil evaluation and permitting? Liberty Plumbing and Septic has been overseeing such crucial processes for years and we can walk you through the process, step by step. Call us today to see how we can help you

First Comes the Surveying

When you are determining where you might want to place your septic system design, it is generally a good idea to have a survey done of your property. It will not only show you exactly where the boundaries of your property lie, it will also show you the best location to build your home and where to properly place your septic system. Remember that it is best placed in a downward sloping area, so that natural gravity will help the water flow from your home, through the tank and out into the leeching field beyond it.

Preparing the Site for Testing

In order to properly prepare your proposed site for the septic tank for soil evaluation and permitting, you will have to dig several test holes for the soil assessment technician to use. Unless you want to spend the day with a shovel, it might be a better idea to have someone dig the holes for you with a backhoe, as each one will need to be at least five feet deep. It is also a good idea to dig them at an angle, a gentle slope that someone could easily walk into to take the necessary soil samples.

Testing

The chief reason for being able to get samples that encompass as many layers of the natural soil around your land as possible is to determine whether its composition is able to handle the disposal of wastewater without risk of contaminating water supplies or developing an unhealthy environment. If you notice water seeping into the test holes, your land is too close to the natural water table, which is not an ideal situation when you want to have a septic system installed. If there is too much clay or sand, the water will not be absorbed easily and could create a health hazard over time.

Once the samples have been collected, they will be sent to a lab for analysis. In order to pass soil evaluation and permitting, your soil samples must fall into an identification group between one and three. Anything above that classification would not be feasible to use for waste disposal and you may have to change the proposed location, or think about potentially adding a different soil composition to correct it.