Distant drainfields...why is this a good idea?

3 years ago

Long story, but I am curious....

Ran across a private road not far from us. Road about a half mile long. Eight or nine homes, developed 25 years ago or so. Lots range from 3.5 to 10 acres. Some fairly wooded, others not. All well and septic homes. The lots are a bizarre shape- rather than the road being an easement, each lot has an extremely skinny tail leading down the private road to a field near where the private road meets the main road. There, each lot possesses a small bit of the field- about 40 ft by 200 ft. Why? Because all the drainfields are down there.

Why is this a good idea? There are pros I can see- no need to see if every lot percs, no need to clear more space on the wooded sites. But... if one neighbor doesn't treat their system right, and their field fails...isn't everyone's system going to be impacted? At least it might be a bit of a mystery as to exactly whose system has failed. And all those pipes coming down so far...

What makes it worse is that there is no HOA or road maintenance agreement. I'm not a fan of the type of HOA that will tell you what type of plants you can have in your garden or what type of Christmas lights are okay, but relying on neighbors to maintain their septic system with no governing body or funds saved for repairs seems like a bad idea.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? What am I missing?

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Comments (3)

HU-867564120
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I see no reason why a failed septic field would fail an adjacent septic field; the failure is localized. On the other hand, when a field does fail, I can see the possibility that the authority having jurisdiction mandating ever property go to an above ground leach field.
traditionalbetty
3 years ago
I might be misunderstanding what you are describing, but it’s possible that the “tail” from each property is so that each property has a piece that abuts the main road so as not to be considered landlocked. Our property is on a private road we share with several other neighbors. Properties range from 10-22 acres and are mostly wooded. Our house and yard are pretty far back from the main road, but we have a thin tail from the back of our lot that runs behind the lot of the neighbor next to us to the main road. Building codes required each property touch the main road in case another access was ever needed.
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jrb451
3 years ago
If this is true, " A typical home with a good percolation rate may require as little as 4,500 square feet of field or as much as 9,000 square feet with a poor percolation rate." And your estimate of the area is correct, 40' X 200" = 8,000 square feet, then I would expect some problems down the line if this area serves 8 or 9 homes.