What Is A Septic Tank ?

By Scott Rodgers

You waste a lot of water daily in flushing toilets, bathing, washing hands, washing utensils and in many more things. But what happens to this waste water? This water further goes to a septic tank where it is treated to be used further.

Septic tank is the underground tank that receives and treats your home's water waste. It is rectangular in shape and is made of either a steel body or a concrete body. The size of tank varies from place to place, but it can hold up to 1,000 gallons of water. Waste water comes in this tank and treated water goes out of it.

Waste water comes into the septic tank from the sewer pipes in the house. When this waste water reaches the tank, it gets separated in different layers.

A septic tank has three layers. Top most layer is scum layer that contains the light weighted impurities that floats on water. Things heavier than water, sinks to form the sludge layer at the bottom of the tank. In the middle is a fairly clear water layer. It contains bacteria that start to attack and break down the waste immediately. This water also contains chemicals like nitrogen and phosphorous that act as fertilizers.

Now the middle layer water is moved to a drain field. There in the field, soil acts as a biological filter. Oxygen and organisms in the soil combine to break down any remaining toxins, bacteria or viruses in the waste water. The water can be absorbed by plant roots or can go into ground.

The water is slowly absorbed and filtered by the ground in the drain field. The size of drain field determines how soon the water will be absorbed. The large sized drainage field is required if the ground is hard clay that absorbs water very slowly.

A septic plant should generally be large in size as a tank with less capacity allows the waste water to enter the drain field too quickly. In this case, the solid particles that were supposed to settle into the tank are accidentally carried into the drain field. If this happens, your drain field can become flooded with untreated waste water and can cause serious health risks to you and the environment.

A septic system is normally powered by nothing but gravity. Water flows down from the house to the tank and further from the tank to the drain field. If you become little careful, you can extend the life of your entire septic system. Just take care that what you are putting in your drains and toilet. Minimize the amount of solid, non-degradable particles and scum forming compounds.

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