Land Water and Septic Systems

[Rich Herrmann]

Have a piece of property with 10″ top soil and have gone down 4″ with only sand, but land is saturated.. Located near a river, but current elevation near 20′ above waters surface. Suspect a hard pan or clay layer below sand layer preventing drainage.

Need to develop way to make land drier so septic field can be laid or constructed. Looking for recommendations.

One thought would be to see if drilling holes through hard pan/clay might offer escape for excess water and improve drainage and eventual

septic site development.

[Bob Sutton]

I too have such a property that appears to stay
wet. Where are you located? I’m in Maine and they
have what I have heard to be stict rules about
septics near water. I have an existing septic
but you amy have to consult with your state
en

v. protection folks to see what rule apply
for your “shorland zoning”. Let me know what you
find.

[Bob Haddleton]

I would be interested in what you decided to do.
Your e-mail address suggests your job is at the Department of Natural Resources in Michigan. I would expect that the state DPW has some Civil Engineers with lots of experience in drainage, types of soil, and septic systems.
It souds like there may be a clay layer beneath the sand. Nothing stops water flow better than clay and silt. The fines fill up the interstices and close off the passages through which water flows.

[Author]

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