COVID-19 Virus and Your Septic are related.
Thank you for visiting our web site.
I hope that you are being safe in these unprecedented times. The COVID-19 virus has changed life for all of us and it will likely change some more before this situation is over. Aero-Stream remains open as we are an essential business in the field of wastewater treatment. We will continue to operate during our normal business hours of 8 AM – 5 PM CST and our knowledgeable technician will be on call after these hours and on weekends.
If you are starting to see issues with your septic system, we can help explain why. The COVID-19 virus and your septic system are indirectly related. Normally, many homes are not occupied 24/7 because the parents are off to work and the children are in school. Your system is easily getting more than a 30% increase in hydraulic loading than it did a month ago. In addition, I hope that you and your family are doing a lot more hand washing than you did a month ago. Unfortunately, this adds to the hydraulic loading on your system also.
Septic systems are designed to treat the waste water based on the number of bedrooms and it is assumed there are 2 people per bedroom. Each person uses about 50 gallons of water each day in their normal routine. A skilled septic system designer will increase the average use rate by 50% increasing the design capacity to 75 gallons per day. As an example, a 3 bedroom home would be designed to handle 450 gallons per day. Therefore, when a system is new and performing as designed it would have no problem with the home being occupied 24/7 by the entire family as is happening now.
As a system ages, the hydraulic capacity degrades because ofCOVID-19 Virus and Your Septic
the formation of the bio-mat that gets built up in the drain area. If we look back a month ago, a family of 5 was putting about 250 gallons per day into the septic system. At that point, the system was able to treat that volume of waste water. Now, this same family of 5 may be putting 375 gallons per day into the system. This is a 50% increase in flow rate. If your system is not functioning properly, you may begin to experience gurgling pipes, back-ups and or waste water pooling on the ground near the tank lid or out in the drain field.
If you are experiencing any problems or just think something is different with the operation of your septic system, don’t hesitate to call us at 877-254-7093. One of our skilled technicians can discuss the problem and a solution instead of having to continually pump your tank for relief or even worse, having to replace the system. We have solutions for the effect of the COVID-19 virus and your septic system.
In closing, I wish the best for you & your family. I encourage you to practice the CDC guidelines social distancing and additional hand washing whenever you return to your home. Avoid hand to face touching as this is a major method of virus transmission. Treat everything you bring into your home as if it may be contaminated with the virus on the surface. This includes food, food packaging, received parcel shipments, mail, etc. If possible, let these items sit in an undisturbed area for at least 24 hours. If you can’t wait this long, wash or wipe down the item with a disinfecting cleaner.
Stay safe and we are here for you!
Sincerely,
Karl