Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions Septic system close to Pond

Personally, Brettski, I would place the septic system as far from the pond as possible. I know of several ponds with septic systems above them, but I don't know if anyone eats fish from the ponds or even really worries about them. Assuming there were no problems when everything works OK, what happens when everything's not OK? Septic systems can suffer breakages, leaks, overflows, and (insert your own horrible sounding thing to do with apple butter here).

In keeping with your basic excavation/house pad plan, how about placing the septic system on the far side of the house from the pond rather than in the yard between the pond and the house? I suppose you might have to move the house a tad closer to the pond - think how many steps that will save you when you are retired!

I can testify that leach fields leave a nice dark, lush green pattern in the grass ("The Grass is Always Greener over the Septic Tank" - my cows' favorite Erma Bombeck). By moving the septic system you would keep this out of your view of the pond.

Definitely avoid an aerator septic system if at all possible. The motors invariably cause more trouble than everything else combined, and when they're not aerated properly, they reek. When we were looking for property, we nixed one place because it had an all-aerator septic subdivision next door, none of which seemed to work.

There's not much that can break with a septic tank and a leach field - if they work when they are put in, they're good for decades.