salt water disposal: Septic system

J

jonwright

New member
So I live in the country on a lake. We are on septic system so I know I don't want to just put my waste salt water in the septic system.

Is there anything else to do with salt water besides find a spot where I know plants won't grow to dump it? I'm also a bit concerned about starting a collection of water that will send salt run off into the lake.

Yes, we're right on the water and I have about 500' of water front on a large hill - it all runs down hill. I have an acre of land and there's not much of any place to dump near my house that won't eventually wind up in the lake it appears.

Am I looking at really doing a cistern? Am I over thinking this?

No, I don't have a tank yet but I don't want to create other problems if I do.
 
How large of a tank are you contemplating? I had a 120g when I was on a septic atank and never had any issues draining my waste water to it. How close are the field lines to the lake?
 
I wouldn't worry too much about killing plants. I have been trying to kill some grass in my yard for YEARS with my water change waste and it simply doesn't kill my lawn. :)
 
PENNDOT dumps hundreds of tons of salt on the road every year and the weeds and grass still grow right up to the edge of the road. I used to see buckets worth of salt in front of my house where the trucks would raise the dump bed to shift the salt to the rear, so probably well over 1,000 gallons worth of salt mix every winter within a 200 foot stretch of road.

Don't sweat it.
 
welll...OK

welll...OK

I'm not in a salted road area (it hardly snows down here) so I'm not used to seeing piles of salt around.

aaalllllllllrighty then.
 
I defiantly wouldn't dump the water into my septic system, it will cause major problems, I used to dump it on the side of my driveway (gravel part) it would evaporate off and leave the salt behind. Then it would help with ice when it snowed.
 
Breadman03 said:
That's why I mentioned it.
Click to expand...

Oh, and :).

I'm from PA, and remember seeing NC practically shut down for a dusting of snow, so I've certainly sen how people from different parts of the country see completely different perspectives.

I should have hit some of the fish taco stands in S. CA.
 
Depending on how much water you change out I doubt it would do anything to your septic. Not sure what your septic size is but I would suspect a solids tank(700gal) then a water sediment tank(1000gal) then your leach field. You probably add a few hundred gallons of fresh water to it daily. That said I highly doubt 20-100gal of salt water weekly would make a difference.
 
Salt leaches quickly, leaving no residue behind. Putting it into your septic will not cause any environmantal or septic problems.
 
Pbetz20909 said:
Depending on how much water you change out I doubt it would do anything to your septic. Not sure what your septic size is but I would suspect a solids tank(700gal) then a water sediment tank(1000gal) then your leach field. You probably add a few hundred gallons of fresh water to it daily. That said I highly doubt 20-100gal of salt water weekly would make a difference.
Click to expand...

I use about 4,000 gallons of water per month with 6 people and a 75 gallon tank to give a pretty good idea of how much water might go through a system.
 
borderreef said:
Salt leaches quickly, leaving no residue behind. Putting it into your septic will not cause any environmantal or septic problems.
Click to expand...

I don't know how much faith I'd put in that, particularly the part about the septic.

I have septic as well and researched this same issue. Like everything else is this hobby everyone does things a little differently and claims varying results.

Researching here and other places brought up the following potential issues dumping into your septic:
- concrete damage from the salt
- leech field damage due to bacteria and such from the waste water interfering with the beneficial bacteria in the septic system

In the end I decided to play it safe and just dump my waste water during changes on the lawn and not into the septic system. After about 9-10 months I've not seen my lawn get any worse.

I'd rather replace some grass/top-soil if needed instead of spending $10K+ on a new septic system.
 
I can see the salt possibly causing some problems with the bacteria, But I HIGHLY doubt it would be the culprit of a septic system replacement.. I think the worst case scenario is that you would have to clean it out and restart the bacteria......
 
There have been several scientific studies on dumping saltwater into septic systems and the concensis was it's a non issue. If your just doing water changes theres no way your going to raise the SG if the entire system to upset the Bio process. Water softeners on average dump 5 lbs of salt or more a week down the drain. Im on a septic with a twin tank water softener and a Nitrate Anion filter. between the two I send 35 lbs of salt down the drain per week and have done so for about 15 years without problems, and my septic is close to 30 years old.
 
birddog486 said:
There have been several scientific studies on dumping saltwater into septic systems and the concensis was it's a non issue. If your just doing water changes theres no way your going to raise the SG if the entire system to upset the Bio process. Water softeners on average dump 5 lbs of salt or more a week down the drain. Im on a septic with a twin tank water softener and a Nitrate Anion filter. between the two I send 35 lbs of salt down the drain per week and have done so for about 15 years without problems, and my septic is close to 30 years old.
Click to expand...

agreed. It's not an issue for the septic. There has been no conclusive evidence that salt of any kind does damage to your septic.
 
unless the lake you live by is a puddle....i wouldn't worry about it bothering the lake.....i'm sure alot worse stuff gets washed into it every time it rains
 
the problem you would have would be the increased volume of liquid causing the septic to fail not the salt, as septics age they can process less liquid in the leaching field due to things like the soap from your clothing and dish washer clogging the drainage. Most people think there septics are fine until they have a bunch of family over for a few days and next thing you know you have a wet area above your leaching field. i put mine into my drywell that is hooked to my sump pump.
 
i've been puting 30-60g a month for 20yrs down the drain with no ishues.
if anything i think salt water suports more benificial bacteria than fresh and it may achualy help break down waste in the tank. we have gone alot longer than recomended between pumpings without problems and i think it's becouse of the regular salt water that i dump
 
Huh

Huh

Good feedback. Since I'm in rocky area I have a plastic tank (I just put a new system in). I have 7 folks in my house and we go through @3k gallons a month or so. Maybe a bit more for 4k gallons.

So maybe 40-100 gallons of salt water won't be that bad, but I may dump in yard just to be safe anyway.
 
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