Your septic system is an on-site waste disposal system that is custom built for your property. There are no two systems that are built the same. Major components of a conventional system include the mainline, septic tank, baffles, tail-pipe and drainfield. Other common names for your drainfield are absorption field, lateral lines, field lines or leach lines. You may even have an alternative system that could include but not limited to major components such as a dosing tank & pump, discharge line, drip irrigation field or sand filter.

Here is the journey that wastewater travels in a septic system:

1. Wastewater exits the home through the mainline drain and enters the septic tank.

2. Inside the septic tank the wastewater travels through a series of baffle structures which allow for proper settling and separation of solid waste from wastewater.

3. Wastewater exits your septic tank through the tail-pipe after the baffle structures have done their job and separated all the solid waste from the liquid.

4. Wastewater then travels down the tail-pipe and enters the drainfield. Your drainfield is a network of absorption materials that is hundreds of feet in length below your yard.

5. In the drainfield the waste water is absorbed in to the surrounding soils which acts as a final natural filter before the water reaches the natural underground water table.

6. Below the drainfield the natural filtering abilities of the soil and anaerobic microorganisms finish the job by returning the water back to it’s natural clarity.

7. After the final stage of natural treatment below the drainfield, the water enters the natural underground water table and begins it’s new journey in the natural water cycle.