A substantial part of my workload consists of conducting soil investigations for onsite wastewater treatment, which is an impressive way of saying I do soil testing for septic systems. This involves sampling and characterizing soils where septic systems are used to filter septic tank effluent. Once the soil characteristics and properties are described, I make estimates of how much effluent the soils can adequately filter. It’s a relatively straightforward process controlled by municipal, county, or state-wide regulations. This type of testing is recognized as being more accurate than conducting percolation tests. Indeed, many jurisdictions in Illinois have rejected percolation testing as a means to site and size septic systems and have adopted soil investigations as the alternative. Soil investigations typically are less expensive and can be completed more quickly. Anecdotal evidence suggests that over the last 20 years, the number of premature failures of septic systems has decreased with increasing adoption of soil investigations.
Most soil classifiers who have a few years of field experience can reliably conduct soil investigations for individual home sites and small commercial applications. It becomes a little more tricky when soil investigations are used to site and size septic systems for larger uses (say over 2000 gallons of wastewater per day) or when that use may vary significantly over time. For example, a large church may generate a large volume of wastewater each Sunday and a relatively minute volume the other six days of the week.
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| “World’s largest” corn maze conveniently located near housing development, Spring Grove, Illinois |
Similarly, seasonal users such as those in the agritourism industry present more complexity to the situation. Agritourism or entertainment farming is defined as any agricultural operation that brings visitors to its location for the purpose of providing recreation or education and offering sale of a service or product. Examples of such operations include vineyards/wineries, fruit orchards, Christmas tree farms, and petting zoos. These types of operations are often seasonal in nature. Visits are dependent on the harvest cycle, suitable outdoor weather, holidays, or local festivals. As such, the amount of wastewater that visitors will generate will also be seasonal. It’s not uncommon that agritourism destinations are in rural areas not served by community sewers. Many times, the number of visitors and the amount of wastewater generated will exceed what can be handled safely by porta-potties. So, some type of septic system must be installed.
The soil classifier conducting investigations for this type of use must consider average and peak use, and may get some guidance in this regard from local regulations that provide an estimated amount of wastewater generated per visitor. Based on volume of watewater and soil type, the soil classifier can determine how large an area may be required and fully examine that area. This often includes examining other areas for potential expansion or replacement of the wastewater treatment area. Additionally, the area proposed for wastewater treatment must be protected from other uses including cultivation, intensive grazing, permanent or temporary parking, vehicular or intensive foot traffic, and buildings. It must be located a minimum distance from open water such as streams or ponds. It should not be located in areas that receive and concentrate surface runoff water such as closed depressions or drainage ways, or in areas prone to flooding. A relatively straightforward job now includes a number of angles and curves.
The agritourism industry in my location of suburban/exurban Chicago seems to be growing. And the amount of work I’m doing for this use is increasing. Ironic, perhaps, that as the character of the area changes from rural to suburban – tracts that once grew crops and livestock now grow houses – the inhabitants have created the demand for nearby agritourism destinations operated by an adaptive agricultural community: the process of creative destruction in free market capitalism.
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