I went for a walk in the backyard of the house I just bought 3 months ago after a 3 foot snow melt and some rain. I have feared some septic issues so when I seen these spots I figured its a drain field issue but wanted some opinions. These spots are 160 to 200 feet from the house thought most septic fields would stick closer to the house. Everything is extremely wet and this land used to be a farm dunno if that helps but anything thanks for any input.

 

Have you had the septic tank pumped out?

Do you know where the septic tank is?

Do you know where the drain field is?

It is a good idea to have the septic tank pumped out almost as soon as you buy the house unless you know for sure when the tank was last pumped out and there is a recommendation that it does not need another pumping.

 

All no's I just ordered a poker to try and find the tank. I got the house just before winter so figured I'd get by till spring and had tons of other work to do as it was a foreclosure so figuring there has been nothing done for the septic for the 18 years the previous owners seemed adverse to any maintenance. So fearing the worst but expected that. Just saw this stuff in the back of the yard and figuring that its from the septic but seemed far from the house.

 

The dark color and sheen on the liquid does look like it could be effluent from the septic system. The leach field has to be located where there is suitable soil and often they're put where digging and access is easy so it is possible that your field is quite far from the house. And, the amount of leach field line has varied over time. Now it's not uncommon for there to be 100' for each bedroom in the house. It's also possible that you only have one or two long lines which could extend far from the house.

It looks like a well in the background of your first photo. 100 feet is a common separation for leach field from a well though I have seen them as close as 50'.

 

The strong iron in it made me think maybe just iron bacteria or something and the sporadic one over here and one 50 ft away seemed odd. As well they seemed to do a lot of things on the cheap here so figured they would keep everything closer as it is just a big open field so anywhere is easy digging.

The well luckily is up the hill in front of house about 400 feet away.

Will be nice to find this lid and hope a pump will solve this and hasn't ruined the drain field.

 

Has any heavy equipment driven driven over the area between the house and that wet spot ?

My own experience includes having such a wet spot, whch was due (it turns out) to the former owners allowing their cows to graze over the leach field, and crushing the Orangeburg Distribution Pipe . . . . little Jersey Cattle still weigh quite a bit PSI. Naive as I was, I replaced the entire system, when just the leach field had been compromised.

Depending on what your leach field was constructed of, like PVC, it could probably withstand more weight than mine. Your problem is probably due to clogging, as a result of the septic tank not being maintained and allowing solids to flow out to the distribution field.

What is that box in the back ground . . . . a bee hive ?

 

It's been a long time since I lived in your neck of the woods, but I was a bright kid.

Some wet spots are caused by tiny springs. They are most notable in the spring when the water table is high and since we keep hearing about how much snowfall the NE US got this year, the water table meay be very high this year.

Also if the water table is high and the leachfield is poorly built then the "water" from the leachfield has no where to go. Does it stink?