For new residential properties, the county building department will not give you a building permit until you have obtained a septic permit from the county health department. To obtain the septic permit, you first need a soils test performed. The soils test takes from 10 to 30 days from order date to written report, depending on which engineering firm you choose and how busy they are. Once you receive the soils test report, you file it together with an application form and a check for the application fee with your local health department office. The permit should be issued in 7 – 10 days. A copy of the septic permit can then be given to the building department along with your plans. The permit expires in one year but is renewable for a second year. If the soils have too slow a percolation rate (above 60 minutes per inch) or if there are shallow sandstone or clay stone bedrock conditions you may need an engineered system. Engineered system designs can be prepared by a soils engineering firm at an additional cost. Once you receive your soils report or engineered design please fax or mail a copy to us. We are happy to talk with you about what you want and need, visit the site and give you a prompt estimate for the cost of installation.
Installation of Subsurface Drip Irrigation
You may want to consider installing a relatively new type of system known as Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI). This technology for the first time takes advantage of the water and nutrients in septic tank effluent to complete life’s cycle by watering and fertilizing lawn grass, planter beds, trees and shrubs. It can do away with sprinkler systems which lose much of the water spray to evaporation, as well as sprinkler system maintenance and repairs. It is automated to operate on plant demand, and if your watering needs are larger than the septic system flows, fresh water can be added to meet plant needs. The cost is little more than that of a traditional engineered system. This newer technology allows the owner to put septic tank effluent to beneficial use, both to irrigate and to feed landscape plantings. The traditional absorption bed or trench systems as well as the engineered low-pressure pipe systems ( known as “Bell-Patt” or “low pressure drip”), are laid out in Cartesian fashion and create a lush green rectangle out in the pasture where it is not needed, while the homeowner who has mature landscaping closer to the house or elsewhere on the property still must install a fresh water irrigation system to water his lawns and other plantings. On average, we do not have enough ground water in the Denver Basin aquifers to serve our current population over time; the aquifers do not recharge at the rate we are taking it out even in the wettest years. SDI will help reduce our water consumption by applying the wastewater where it can do the most good and it puts the water in at the root zone, saving the 25%-30% lost to the atmosphere by traditional sprinkler systems. The method involves installing ½” diameter flexible tubing at a depth of 6”, spaced at 18” or 24”. The emitters installed inside the tubing measure out wastewater at a rate of ½ gallon per hour. The tubing can be installed in a lawn to water and feed the entire lawn. It can be run along a windbreak or visual/noise screening tree planting at the perimeter of the property or along roadways. It can be installed for agricultural row crops for a vegetable garden. For lawns, a household can water the following lawn areas: 2 people = 1660 SF; 4 people = 3320 SF, or a rate of 830 SF per person without fresh water supplementation and during the hottest months of the summer. The cost of a septic system with SDI irrigation is close to the cost of an engineered system depending on the size of your system. SDI can be added as a supplement to your existing system whether standard traditional gravity flow or engineered and it will water and feed wherever and whenever you choose.
Installation of Commercial Septic Systems
For new industrial or commercial properties the county building department will not give you a building permit until you have obtained a septic permit from the county health department. Also, the health department regulations require that all industrial/commercial septic systems be designed by a professional engineer. To obtain the septic permit you first need a soils test performed and an engineered design. The test and design can be done by the same engineer. The process takes from 20 to 60 days from order date to written design, depending on which engineering firm you choose and how busy they are. Once you receive the design, you file it together with an application form and a check for the application fee with your local health department office. The permit should issue in 7 – 10 days. A copy of the permit can then be given to the building department along with your plans. The permit expires in one year, but is renewable for a second year. Once you receive your engineered design please fax or mail a copy to us. We are happy to talk with you about what you want and need, visit the site and give you an estimate for the cost of installation. We usually need 2 – 4 weeks’ notice to schedule the work. We recommend that the system be installed near the end of your construction project to minimize the chance of damage to the system from construction traffic.
