Common septic system myths

As with any industry or business – there are a lot of misconceptions out there with regards to lift stations and septic tanks. On the street, they simply call them ‘myths.’ While we wish this wasn’t the case, it’s common for people to get bad and sometimes misleading information – many times unintentionally so. 

Today, we’re going to tackle some of the myths that we encounter and help paint a clearer picture as to what things really look like. Let’s jump right in. 

Myth 1 – Septic tanks threaten water quality

Septic tanks are NOT a threat to your water quality. They’re used all over the world to treat domestic wastewater from houses off the sewage grid to commercial buildings looking for an alternative means to dispose of their wastewater. The only time when septic tanks become dangerous is when you don’t take care of them. Or you don’t pump them. Or a failure to perform basic maintenance when owners observe warning signs that something might be wrong. It’s not different from driving too fast, not wearing safety gear when working with power tools or any other, highly unrecommended, obviously wreckless thing you can do. So long as you take care of what you’re supposed to take care of – your septic tank is in no way, shape or form – a threat to your septic system.

Myth 2 – Septic systems don’t require maintenance

We’re making a b-line for this myth largely because it plays right off of myth-1. Even if the engineering and installation of your septic tank is flawless, it won’t work properly unless you have a professional who comes out to maintain it. Neglecting anything will result in failure. 

Now how much you maintain your system, how often it needs to be pumped and the like; well, that’s up to the model and type of tank you own. Some tanks require more maintenance than others. All that aside, one of the actual most, important things you can do as a septic tank owner is getting it maintained consistently. 

Myth 3 – you can throw garbage down the drain

One of the more dangerous myths is that you can treat septic tanks like a garbage disposal and throw all sorts of things down the drain. This is actually one of the worst things you can do. Not only does this overload your system with solids, creating more of a need for more frequent pumping, but it can also lead to system failure because it messes with the composition of the bacteria in the tank that’s responsible for breaking your wastewater down. 

At the end of the day, getting maintenance and being cautious about what you throw down the drain will lead to a much longer lasting, healthier, highly functioning septic system. Hopefully today’s posts dispelled some rumors for you – so that formulating a long term plan as to how you’ll maintain your system will come into a clearer focus. Good luck!