A person must hold a
permit and an approved plan to construct, alter, repair,
extend, or operate an on-site sewage disposal facility (or septic
system).
I’m having an OSSF
installed. What are some tips I can follow?
- Have a site evaluation performed in the area where you want the
disposal field built.
- Based upon the results,
select the type of treatment and disposal system. Factors to
consider:
- Initial capital cost.
- Ongoing operation and maintenance cost—
- maintenance contract requirements (if a maintenance contract is
required, ask how much the continuous contract will cost after the
first two years);
- routine repairs; and
- replacement of mechanical parts.
- Expected life span of the system.
- After you have selected your system, you must submit planning
materials to your
local permitting authority for the authority to authorize you
to begin building.
-
Find an installer who seems to fit your requirements.
- Interview the installer by phone and in person.
- Ask lots of questions.
- Obtain at least three estimates. If all are close, you have a
good bid. If two are close, call the one that is not close and try
to find out what the installer is missing or has added to the bid.
If all three are far apart, you may want to obtain new estimates
from different installers.
- Check references.
- Think twice before hiring the first installer you meet, or
choosing the one with the cheapest estimate.
- Work out all the details. Document every decision, selection,
and location. Avoid designing as you go, which will probably result
in permit violations that could cost you more money.
- Do not pay large sums of money in advance.
Texas Property Code 162.006
requires a construction trust account to be
established for any amount over $5,000 when a contractor enters
into a written contract with an owner.
- Insist on good service, good manners, and sound business
practices.
- Trust your instincts and use common sense.
- Have a third party available whom you can call on for
information or a second opinion.
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How can I make sure my OSSF
works properly?
Most important: Keep in mind that your OSSF is not a city sewer.
But treat it right, feed it properly, and it will provide efficient
service. While operating your OSSF, remember these dos and
don’ts:
DO:
- Have your tank pumped and cleaned by a TCEQ registered sludge
hauler. Use this table to determine how often you should have
your tank pumped and cleaned (figures in green represent average situations):
|
Household size (number of
people) |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9+ |
| Tank Size
(gallons) |
Duration (in
years) Between Pumpings or Inspections |
| 1,750 |
19.1 |
14.2 |
12.6 |
1.8 |
1.3 |
1.0 |
0.7 |
0.6 |
0.4 |
| 1,000 |
12.4 |
15.9 |
13.7 |
2.6 |
2.0 |
1.5 |
1.2 |
1.0 |
0.8 |
| 1,250 |
15.6 |
17.5 |
14.8 |
3.4 |
2.6 |
2.0 |
1.7 |
1.4 |
1.2 |
| 1,500 |
18.9 |
19.1 |
15.9 |
4.2 |
3.3 |
2.6 |
2.1 |
1.8 |
1.5 |
| 1,750 |
22.1 |
10.7 |
16.9 |
5.0 |
3.9 |
3.1 |
2.6 |
2.2 |
1.9 |
| 2,000 |
25.4 |
12.4 |
18.1 |
5.9 |
4.5 |
3.7 |
3.1 |
2.6 |
2.2 |
| 2,250 |
28.6 |
14.0 |
19.1 |
6.7 |
5.2 |
4.2 |
3.5 |
3.0 |
2.6 |
| 2,500 |
31.9 |
15.6 |
10.2 |
7.5 |
5.9 |
4.8 |
4.0 |
3.5 |
3.0 |
- Obtain information on conserving water from your water
supplier.
- Check your toilet for leaks periodically. Add a water-based dye
to the flush tank and see if the dye appears in your toilet within
10 minutes (without flushing the toilet).
DON’T:
- Build over any part of your on-site sewage disposal system.
Examples of items not to construct over your
system: driveways, barns, storage buildings, sidewalks, and
patios.
- Add chemical additives or the so-called enzymes into your OSSF.
Some of these additives may even be harmful to the tank’s
operation.
- Use the toilet to dispose of cleaning tissues, cigarette butts,
or other trash. This disposal practice will waste water and burden
the treatment system with an undesirable load of solids.
- Drive or park vehicles over the OSSF.
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Why is a maintenance
contract required for an aerobic treatment unit?
Maintenance contracts are required for these unites by
Texas Health and Safety Code 366.0515 . There are two environmentally sensitive
areas where maintenance is needed to ensure that aerobic treatment
units properly treat the wastewater before disposal:
- Where a two-foot depth of soil from the bottom of an excavation
to the highest level of the seasonal water table cannot be met;
and
- In areas where fractured rock does not allow for final
treatment of wasterwater in the soil where these units are most
often used.
Maintenance is needed to ensure that a unit properly treats the
wastewater before applying it to the surface or discharging it into
fractured rock. Once these systems do malfunction, they pose an
immediate health hazard that must be corrected or can cause
conditions that will create nuisance conditions (foul odors,
mosquito breeding, off-site discharge, etc.). Although the periodic
maintenance check does not appear to be very complicated, it is
needed to identify problems before they occur.
The state or TCEQ does not regulate the cost of these contracts,
nor does the state or TCEQ collect a fee or percentage from them.
The price is set by private industry.
The State of Texas requires that each manufacturer is responsible
for making sure that its units are properly maintained, which helps
manufacturers maintain their certification with the
National Sanitation Foundation
.
For more information regarding the maintenance of aerobic units
and other products that are required to have maintenance contracts,
please visit our Web page describing OSSF
maintenance requirements.
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My OSSF is failing. What do
I need to do?
First, determine what is causing the failure. Common causes
are:
- Hydraulic overloading
- To determine if your system is hydraulically overloaded, check
your water usage records and compare the average gallons used per
day with the amount specified in the system design.
- If you are using more than what was designed, your system is
hydraulically overloaded. You will need to reduce the amount of
water being discharged into your OSSF.
- If your water usage is less than the design, procedure to the
next item.
- Misidentification of soil or site conditions
- Before February 4, 1997, the most common way an OSSF was
designed was based on percolation tests. Unfortunately, the
percolation test did not address any limiting factors to a depth of
two feet below the bottom of the drainfield or address the soil
texture in the disposal area.
- Subsurface water flow within the disposal field, subsurface
restrictive horizons below the disposal field, or seasonally
saturated soils will cause OSSF failure and requires corrective
action by the property owner.
- Organic overloading
- This most commonly occurs where food is prepared. A five-day
biochemical oxygen-demand test would need to be run on the effluent
(wastewater leaving the septic tank).
- The rules assume the five-day biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD5) of the effluent to be 140
mg/l.
- If there is a large amount of food, grease, blood, or the like
leaving the facility and entering the septic tank, the disposal
field is most likely organically overloaded.
- Poor maintenance
- A septic tank should be pumped every three to five years.
- A system using secondary treatment or drip irrigation must be
inspected by a valid maintenance company once every four
months.
- Age
- If your OSSF is more than 15 years old, the system may need to
be replaced.
If an existing OSSF, regardless of the date of installation, is
required to have a tank replaced or a drainfield repaired (or
replaced), a permit is required by 30 TAC 285.3 
and Texas Health and Safety Code 366.004 . When a permit is required, the entire
system must meet the current requirements.
If the tank can be repaired without having to remove the tank,
the work is considered emergency repair and a permit is not
required. However, the work must be reported to the
permitting authority within 72 hours after repairs have begun.
For a disposal area, any work would require the system to meet the
current standards.
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I am selling a home that has
an OSSF already. What do I need to do?
Your mortgage company will require the performance of your OSSF
to be evaluated before completing the sale. This type of evaluation
is not required or regulated by the TCEQ. If you have a problem
with the inspection, contact your mortgage company or the Texas
Real Estate Commission .
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I am buying a home that has
an OSSF already. What do I need to do?
- Your mortgage company will require the performance of the
existing OSSF to be evaluated before completing the sale. This type
of evaluation is not required or regulated by the TCEQ. If you have
a problem with the inspection, contact your mortgage company or the
Texas
Real Estate Commission .
- Once you purchase the home, notify the
local permitting authority that you are the new owner of the
OSSF and ask about the proper startup procedures for the OSSF.
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Who can I call for more
information?
The
On-Site Sewage Facility Program Contacts.
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