On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:49:01 -0800 (PST), "Mike S."
wrote:

Isn't water and laundry detergent from your washing machine supposed
to be pumped to your septic tank (if you have one)? I recently
discovered that my father has been pumping the water to the outside
ground. I would think that would be bad for the environment since it
has all that laundry detergent and bleach in it. I would also think
that would be bad considering he has well water. Any thoughts?

I'm sure the water used to be pumped to the septic tank. I think he
changed things when that pump broke.

I run both my washing machine and bathtub out on the lawn. There's no
sense overloading the septic. Of course I am rural and not bothered
by inspectors and such. Most neighbors do the same. The toilet is
the main thing tha needs a septic, but the kitchen sink tends to have
greasy water and with a garbage disposal it's worse. Either way, the
kitchen sink should also go to the septic. The bathroom sink is
optional. Mine goes to the septic just because I did not want to
change the plumbing, otherwise that too would go out on the lawn.
That little bit of toothpaste and had soap is not going to hurt
anything. As far as detergent and bleach from the wash machine, just
use an environmentally safe detergent. I dont think bleach is all
that bad for the lawn in the small amounts used. One thing, keep the
discharge as far away from the well as possible.

One final note, I run my tub pipe along side of my garden. The pipe
is underground above the garden (I'm on a hill), then it's on the
surface lower down and extends about 30 feet down the hill below the
garden. In the summer I remove a fernco coupler and let the tub water
go into the garden. I rigged a piece of pvc with holes drilled in it,
so it dont flood the garden and wash away plants. The rest of the
year it goes further downhill. I keep the lower section of pipe above
ground because a few times it froze in winter. That way I can remove
the fernco and jam the garden hose in the pipe with hot water to thaw
it. This only happened twice in 8 years and was due to too much snow
building up at the end of the pipe. I've learned to shovel it away
after a snowstorm, and on a few occasions I have put a few cups of
rock salt at that pipe end to break up the ice buildup.

As far as the code, I was told that this is not allowed, but not
enforced either, and like I said, every one does it around here.