"Old_Boat" wrote:

Yes they said to minimize any type of water, the theory being that it
dilutes the good bacteria in the leach field, thus making it more
susceptible to clogging and failure.

That's an interesting theory, but it isn't supported by facts. The bacterial
action you are interested in occurs in the tank, not the leach field. Older
single tank systems use anerobic (no oxygen) bacteria to break down the solids,
newer multi tank systems use anerobic and aerobic (oxygenated) bacteria.

As long as you aren't stressing your system by pushing more water through it in
a given period of time than it's designed to handle, there shouldn't be any
problem.

Where people get into trouble is overloading their system (guests, large amount
of washing, using large amounts of antibacterial cleaners, etc), that either
kill the bacteria in the tank or forces the effluent out into the field before
it's had a chance to settle. That plugs up the field sooner than it should.

They said that this is why on the new
systems there are diverter boxes on leach fields so water can be diverted to
one or the other every other year or so to give the leach field time to
recover.

Eventually all leach fields fail - they are nothing more than a filter. Double
fields are nice if the lot size permits, but resting works the opposite way you
described. It allows the bacterial mat that builds up in the field over time to
die off and break down so that when the field is used again, the water can perc
through the soil. I haven't seen what the recommended time is, but a year
strikes me as too short for the mat to break down. Usually you see people run
with the first field until it plugs up (which should be 10-20+ years) then
switch over to the other field.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars