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Show Flooded Septic Tank Guidelines The Utah Department of Health cautions homeowners that septic tank wastes and sewage contaminated con-taminated groundwater pumped from flooded septic tanks should not be discharged onto the ground surface or into streams, canals, or other bodies of water. When necessary, those wastes should be removed from the tanks by a professional septic tank pumping firm, or with other similar pumping equipment, and transported tran-sported in a sanitary manner to an approved disposal site. The Department lists the following alternatives for temporarily tem-porarily solving or mitigating most problems with flooded septic tanks: 1. Convert the septic tank into a sewage holding tank by completely sealing the tank (wall joints, inlet and outlet joints, and tank top, if necessary) with a waterproof, asphalt compound, and plugging the outlet leading to the drainfield or soil absorption system. The wastes would then have to be pumped out as needed by a septic tank pumping firm, or its equivalent, and transported to an approved disposal site. Wastewater volume in these instances could be reduced by prudent use of water within the dwellings or by installing acceptable low volume plumbing fixtures. 2. In some instances here drainfield systems are being flooded, it may be possible to plug off the initial drainfield and install a second shallow drainfield, into which the septic tank effluent is pumped. The shallow drainfield system should be located some distance away from the original drainfield and house. The sump pump should be positioned in the septic tank so it will not pump solid wastes into the drainfield, or a small watertight pump well of at least 50-gallon capacity could be installed to receive the septic tank effluent. 3. Curtain or perimeter drains may De installed in some situations to intercept and lower the ground-j ground-j water around the house and septic I tank system. This technique can be j used where gravity flow will carry I the groundwater to a canal or ditch I and away from the affected area. 4. Sump pumps can be installed below basement floors. However, precaution should be made to I completely direct the pumped groundwater away from the house or other dwellings so that it will not have to be repumped by the same individual or by other homeowners. In some situations where the groundwater beneath dwelling or basement floors is under pressure, flooding problems can be made worse by knocking a hole through the basement floor and installing a sump pump. In those situations it may be better to dig one or more temporary outside pump well holes near the affected site, and pump the groundwater from them. 5. In some cases where wastewater disposal or flooding problems make a dwelling simply untenable, every effort should be made to encourage the residents to temporarily abandon the dwelling and live elsewhere until the septic tank system is again functional. If this action fails, it may be necessary, as a last resort, for the local health department to close the dwelling. In some instances, neighbors living adjacent to one another are all repeatedly repumping the same groundwater that entered their basements or sump pumps. If such groundwater does not contain sewage or septic tank wastes, the entire situation could be relieved by pumping the groundwater into a temporary surface pipeline or concrete street gutter that is directed away from the area. The Department is particuarly concerned about those situations where the pumping of flooded septic tanks onto the ground surface, or into water courses, is occurring. In extreme emergency conditions, this type of action may be the only alternative, short of closure by the local health department. However, this should not be permitted until other practical alternatives have been considered or tried, and even then, only after a thorough evaluation of the "downstream" consequences. |
