Addy the Environmentalist in Training

Anyone that owns a septic tank system knows that an important part of keeping your system healthy is a regular pumping or cleaning of your tank. One of the things that can increase the need for septic tank tank pumping is the amount of waste water that goes through your tank. Reducing the amount of this water can buy you time, which will save you money.

How Often Should You Pump Your Septic Tank?

There are several variables that determine how often your tank should be pumped. These are:

• The size of the tank
• The number of drains in the home. This includes commodes, bath tubs, and sink drains
• The number of people who live in the home
• The amount of waste and water being deposited into the tank
• Whether or not the home contains a garbage disposal

Regular pumping not only eliminates the sludge that has not been broken down in your system, but will also extend the life of your system. You can get a general idea using the chart that is found at Inspectapedia.com. 

Ways To Reduce Your Waste And Water

If you want to reduce the amount of water that is going into your tank, one of the first steps that you need to take is to install low-flow faucets throughout your home. Many people think nothing of turning on the shower and allowing it to run several minutes prior to stepping into it, or allowing the sink to run while they are brushing their teeth.

By simply replacing these faucets, you can cut the amount of water that is going into your system from approximately 4 gallons per minutes to approximately 2.5 gallons per minute. Getting your family to break their bad habits of letting faucets run unnecessarily will save you even more.

If you hear your toilet running when no one is in the bathroom, your toilet has a slow leak, and water is continuously running into your septic system. Simply fixing the leak in your toilet will stop this waste of water, but if you are looking for solutions that will reduce the overall amount of water you are using, consider installing low-flow toilets. By simply installing low-flow toilets you can reduce the amount of water per flush by more than half.

If your toilets are not leaking, and you do not want to incur the cost of replacing them, place a brick in the back if each of your existing toilets. This brick will reduce the amount of water that it takes to fill your tank, which in turn will reduce the amount used when the toilet is flushed.

Avoid washing one or two pieces of clothing at a time. Wait until you have larger loads before you do laundry. This will not only reduce the amount of waste water that is going into your septic tank, but will save you money on the cost of laundry detergent.

If you look hard, you will find that there are many things that you can do to reduce this amount of waste.