It's not really the fibers or even the detergents that are the evil culprit.
It's really just the volume of water going in there. There's no reason to
have a washer on a septic system. Just plumb it out somewhere away from the
house. It's really no different than if you were doing it with a wash board
or a wringer washer out on the front porch, you just dump it on the ground.
Authorities won't bitch about things they don't know about.

--
Steve Barker


"EXT" wrote in message
anews.com...
While authorities will insist on the laundry water be drained through the
septic tank, it is one of the worst things you could do. Many years ago
before synthetics, cotton, wool and flax fibers and lint would break down
in the tank along with the normal waste products. However, polyester,
nylon and other synthetics do not break down. They sit inside the tank or
flush out into the drainage field and slowly over time build up a matte of
synthetic fibers throughout the drainage field causing it to eventually
clog up and need replacing. Since the regulations are much tighter now
than when older septic systems were installed, a similar system cannot be
installed in the same space if you have limited room. This now will
require a much more expensive system to be installed.