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Your Guide to Septic Maintenance
If your home has a septic system, it’s important to practice good septic maintenance. Unlike in a municipal sewer system, where maintaining those sewers is the city’s responsibility, with a private septic system, that responsibility falls to you as the homeowner. In this article, we will go over four key steps to good septic maintenance.

  • Regularly inspect and pump your tank. The first key to good septic maintenance is to have your tank periodically inspected. The EPA recommends having your tank inspected at least once every three years, or as often as once a year if your system contains float switches, pumps, or electrical components. Additionally, the sludge in your tank will build up over time and need to be pumped out before it exceeds capacity. Our team at Clark Septic can provide a recommendation for how often you need to pump your tank based on its size and the number of residents in your home.
  • Use water efficiently. All the water from your toilets and drains will pass through your septic system, so reducing the amount of water your household uses can improve the overall efficiency and lifespan of your tank. Taking care of leaky fixtures is thus an important step in septic maintenance, and using high-efficiency toilets, faucets, and shower heads is similarly helpful.
  • Watch your drains. In addition to making sure you don’t have leaks, another big part of effective septic maintenance is watching what goes down your drains. Things like diapers, feminine hygiene products, paper towels, dental floss, coffee grounds, and other items can clog up the system and potentially damage important components. Besides that, your septic system contains a whole ecosystem of bacteria to break down waste particles, and exposure to chemicals like gasoline, bleach, paint, antifreeze, etc. will kill them and prevent your system from working right.
  • Care for your drain field. The last step in good septic maintenance is to care for your drain field, the network of pipes and filters that release water from your tank back into the water system. Only plant grass in the area surrounding your drain field, as roots from trees or shrubs can damage the lines, and also never drive or park your vehicle over that area. Lastly, make sure your gutters direct their drainage away from the drain field, as oversaturating the area will give water from the tank nowhere to go.

We at Clark Septic hope that this guide has been helpful to you. If you would like further assistance, you can reach out to our experts for more tips on septic maintenance.