[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Have not been here in a while and saw this interesting bit....

Well: How deep is the well? Where is it placed in reference to the septic?

I am assuming you are looking at places in Southeast Texas. In the Piney Woods many wells have a high level of sulpher. I would test the water through Texas A&M. You can get some very good, sweet water in that area!

Make sure of the rate of available water. We really, really loved this one place which was EXTREMELY secluded. Felt wonderful and had the perfect topography for cattle and hunting with a small area for growing hay. Available water was estimated at less than 1 GPM at 300+ feet. Not very much water! The previous people were taking off a three acre lake and filtering. We passed but do somewhat regret the decision.


Septic: Most older systems are going to be drop systems. These will have fields for draining. They can work very well and give zero issues when maintained properly. We have had them and liked them. Last one was huge and had not been pumped since the early 1970s. Did not need it.

Check on zoning, some areas MAY require you to upgrade to an aerobic system no matter what you have or have not done or tested. My aerobic system was not that expensive. Check around!

Our current system is similar to what a small city utilizes. It cost barely more than a large drop system with multiple lines. We have a 1500 gallon first stage drop tank. There is a three station "processing plant" behind the unit. It provides further breakdown of components. The final stage pumps water and we have a watering system which waters a huge butterfly garden with lots of permanent plants. The water comes out the same quality as if we were a small cities processing plant. The installer joked it was of good enough quality to drink coming out. There is ZERO odor, system runs well but does require electricity to operate the air pump (does make droning noise) and the water pump to the spray nozzles.


Living with septic:

No processing of kitchen waste down the sink, this means do not even think of using a grinder. Kitchen waste does not breakdown easily in the system. Make a compost pile, much easier to manage. No hygiene products down the toilet. No wet wipes down the toilet.

Remember any chemicals going down the drains and into the septic system WILL end up on your land. No oils, toxins, other things you do not want to see again. You will kill the good microbes!

Run microbes into your system. Change the filters/chemicals as necessary. We do not use any chlorine/chlorox products in our system. All soaps we use are septic safe as is all toilet paper. Most toilet papers today are septic safe and they state as much on the labelling. We have an automatic dishwasher and use septic safe products from Cascade, they are no more expensive and are readily available locally.