LILWA

The following copyrighted article is reprinted by permission of American Liquid Waste Magazine and appears here in its entirety.

THE HIDDEN DANGER ON LONG ISLAND

by Jim vonMeier

If you live on Long Island, chances are you've heard of cesspools, but veryfew people know why they have them and the danger they pose.

In the old days, cesspools were a 10 to 30 feet pit dug in the yard with cinder blocks used to shore up the side-walls. Then a concrete or wooden top is put over the top and covered with topsoil. As wastewater is flushed down the drain, it enters the "pit" and migrates down through the bottom and out through the sides.

The use of cesspools exploded in the 1950's as improvements in transportation allowed people to move out of the cities to suburban areas and commute to work. But these areas were developing so fast, sewage treatment facilities could not keep pace. Rather than wait, developers began using cesspools as a temporary solution with the belief that a treatment facility would be available to these homeowners in 5 to 7 years. And they loved them because they were cheap, easy and took up little room (allowing them to put more homes in an area).

By the 1970's, two things were becoming glaringly apparent; first those sewage treatment facilities were far behind schedule and second, there was obviously a design flaw with these systems because where they were used, the quality of nearby surface waters was significantly declining. It didn't take long to figure out the problem.

In most areas of the country, you can dig down 5 to 20 feet and hit a shallow, seasonal water table, and these are the waters that run into our lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and oceans. What that means is if you had a 20 foot deep cesspool in an area with a 15 foot water table, you were flushing your toilet into nearby bodies of water.

Wastewater contains parasites and viruses (an obvious health risk), but its also high in nutrients. When introduced into surface waters, it not only spreads disease, it also promotes the growth of algae and plant life.

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In a copyrighted article dated October 21, 2005, the Southampton Press explored the dangers of older, 'block construction" cesspools that are so common in eastern Long Island.

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If your septic system hasn't been serviced for quite some time, this might be a good time to have it done.

A month-long marathon of Holiday cooking, baking, house guests and parties can put an increased load on the system. All too often, the Holidays is the time of year when cesspool and septic system emergencies seem to crop up.

But little preventive medicine can save you a ton of aggravation and embarrassment. Just make sure that you have the system looked at by a reputable service company; one that is fully licensed and insured and preferably, one where the technicians are LILWA certified. It's your assurance that the service people have the necessary training to perform the required services properly and safely.

There is an extensive list of qualified service companies on the "Find A Company" page and while LILWA can't recommend a specific company, everyone on the list is a member in good standing of this organization and as such, required to be fully licensed and insured in the county(ies) in which they operate.

Click here to access the list.

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