Don’t Stress Your Septic System

Firstly, we hope everyone is safe and healthy and doing your part to help flatten the curve. With self-isolation in full swing, and not appearing to subside anytime soon, it’s important to keep a positive attitude. The stress placed on all of us is far reaching; economically, emotionally, mentally, and physically.

One way to keep stress under control is to help mitigate any potential septic system issues. The stress placed on your septic system today is probably greater than it has ever been. With everyone spending a lot more time at home there is naturally an increase on the load onto your septic system. There is more food being prepared, more dishes being washed and more cycles run through the dishwasher, your garburator is being used more, more laundry is being done, and, of course, more cleaning with strong disinfectants is taking place. All of these activities can adversely affect your septic tank, your soil-based treatment component, and your advanced (secondary) treatment unit if you have one.

In order to not increase any stress that you’re already dealing with and to lessen the potential of an economic burden that you may not be able to deal with we’ve created a checklist. A little diligence on your part will go a long way.

Laundry Room

1. Always ensure that you run a full load in your washing machine.
2. Space your laundry out over the course of the week. Try to avoid running more than one load/day.
3. Use liquid detergent instead of powder. Most powder detergents are full of fillers that can travel through your septic tank without breaking down; they can then clog up your soil-based treatment component.
4. Minimize the amount of bleach you use. Never more than 1 Cup/day.

Bathroom

1. Consider taking showers as opposed to baths. An average length shower uses less water than a bath. Consider limiting your showers to five minutes or less.
2. Use bar soap as opposed to liquid soap for hand washing. Not only are there less chemicals and detergents in bar soap but they also do just as good of a job…if not better…and they’re cheaper.
3. Do not use any chemical products in your toilet.
4. Never flush baby wipes or disinfecting wipes down the toilet. Even if they state “flushable” on the label don’t do it. Dispose of them in the garbage.
5. Never flush paper towels down the toilet.
6. Don’t let the tap run while brushing your teeth.
7. Don’t let the tap run while shaving.

Kitchen

1. Always ensure that you run a full load in your dishwasher.
2. Be extremely careful of how much you use your garburator. Use of a garburator can add large organic stresses to the septic tank. Compost your food waste instead or dispose of it in the garbage.
3. If you do not have a water dispenser on your fridge ensure you have a jug of water in the fridge for drinking. Letting the faucet run until its cold enough could add substantial hydraulic loads to your septic tank.

General

1. Avoid running your laundry and dishwasher at the same time.
2. Fix leaking fixtures immediately…especially toilet flappers as these often go unnoticed since you can’t always hear them.
3. Ensure no runoff from the Spring melt is running to, or accumulating around, your septic tank.

While there’s no guarantee that any of these practices will prevent any septic system issues they will greatly reduce the risk. If, for any reason, you do encounter issues please contact us as we could refer you to our wide network of service providers throughout the Province of Alberta that would be able to help you.

Please be safe and enjoy this extra time that you’re able to spend with your family.