Kathy wrote:

I've been following this thread with interest because in the
neighborhood
that I live in, there are more than a couple houses that I know of
that
discharge laundry water and sump pump discharge into the street. The
municipality won't stop it because they are the same people that
won't make
city-sewer available to this area of town. It's such an old
neighborhood
that some of the homes don't even have a septic "system", just a
cesspool.
The neighborhood was built as a seasonal escape from the city so a
cesspool
under an outhouse wasn't a problem. In fact indoor plumbing came
after the
oldest remaining homes had been built.

That sounds a lot like an area I almost moved into. Seasonal cottages
are now year-round residences with insulation and central heat,
bathrooms have been upgraded and added, and now the cesspools are
failing. It makes the houses very hard to sell unless the bank doesn't
require a septic cert, or the buyer is paying cash.

Some residents have added 55 gallon drums as drywells (mini cesspool)
for their laundry greywater, but such additions are not permissable.
Cesspools are no longer permissable in new systems, and the only
allowable repair to a grandfathered cesspool which cannot keep up with
the dwelling's output is replacement with a permissable system. The
lots are sloped except for the part where the house and cesspool are,
so there's no room for a conventional drainfield. The township is going
to have to run a pipe, seems almost no way out of it, or condemn the
area. Some of them might be able to get away with drip irrigation where
the slope is 30% or less. There's a school nearby that has an
evapotranspiration bed or something, maybe the residents and the school
could form an association to handle their combined problem.

%mod%