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LARGER VIEW of septic dye going down a toiletSeptic Inspection & Septic Testing Laws

Septic & onsite wastewater treatment system inspection & test codes, laws, guidelines, regulations.

This artilce series provides septic design & installation regulations for septic tanks, cesspools, drainfields, soakaway beds and other onsite wastewater treatment & disposal systems. Septic system & onsite wastewater design regulations.

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U.S. Septic Inspection & Test Codes, Laws, Standards

Question: does the NYS requirement of dye test using 300 gallons, rate as the same as all other states?

Septic dye breakout next to a home during a septic test (C) Daniel FriedmanApparently your article on septic tank inspections does not even IMPLY that the reqmts differ from US State to state.. let alone country to country! Hmm. Nice world you live in.

So tell me.. the one question i want to know is.. does the NYS reqmts of dye test from a tub (some how) using 300 gallons, rate as the same as all other states. Or does that parameter vary (ALOT?) Throughtout the country.

To me, it is an obsurd worst case scenario.

I'd like to know if NY bowed to "environmental" lobbyists way more than other states.

Did the regulation writers note, that most home septic systems made before xyz date (eg 1960), would always fail?

My perfectly good system did! At least in rainy April. (One wonders if it would in August?) - Anonymous by private email 201805/23

Reply: No, but then the septic test procedure you cite is not a New York State septic law

The unfortunate news, Jim, is that if your septic system "failed" a septic loading and dye test during wet weather, then the system has honestly failed.

It's simply not acceptable to pee and poop into the public watershed even if one does so just during wet weather. Such a septic system is not really perfectly good.

I agree that you could question the test volume of water used - particularly if your home has fewer than three bedrooms and was fully occupied.

But in my experience with septic testing, even when a septic loading test uses more water than necessary or more water than recommended, most-often if the septic system shows a breakout of water or dye during such a test, the the system is honestly in trouble.

LARGER VIEW of septic dye going down a toiletThank you for pointing out the need of more details about septic testing laws here at InspectApedia.com. I've prepared this page as a first pass at giving you the information you asked-for.

Regarding your question

"does the NYS reqmts of dye test from a tub (some how) using 300 gallons, rate as the same as all other states"

I am not aware of a New York State Law that specifies the 300 gallons you cite, nor can I make sense of that assertion.

There is not one correct or "Fixed" septic loading, dye, or push test water volume recommended by any expert in the field. The appropriate test volume is adjusted by

Regarding this part of your question: "all other states", that's is not accurate since there is no national nor fixed, consistent state regulation across "all other states" in the U.S. (nor in other countries) on septic loading and dye testing.

Across the U.s. most state or individual county septic inspection and test guidelines (not actual laws or regulations that are less common) are often notdetailed about water test volumes nor other septic system test or inspection parameters.

I've been researching and writing on septic testing and inspection, installation, troubleshooting, and repair for 35 years, so it's entirely fair for yout to point out that some of the material I've published will benefit from the septic testing regulations whose absence you cite and thus whose update you suggest.

Nevertheless, even today (May 2018) while some local governments and a very few state governments have passed legislation requiring septic system inspection or testing when a property changes hand, or for problem area properties such as septic systems by lakes or waterways, nation wide in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., and the E.U., there is very little actual law or regulation about the conduct of septic tests and inspections.

Septic Design & Perc Test Regulations & Laws vs Design & Installation Regulations

There are septic design regulations, including specifications for perc testing - which is absolutely not part of the process of inspecting an existing septic system. We do discuss variations in design and perc test regulations in various states, provinces, and countries, addressing septic system design and installation.

We summarize and give links to septic design and installation regulations and laws for the U.S. (and link to those for other countries) in SEPTIC & SEWAGE TREATMENT CODES & REFERENCES

and see

SEPTIC DRAINFIELD SIZE for wastewater application rate tables & septic trench design tables

Also see these InspectApedia.com sources of Septic & Onsite Wastewater Disposal Regulations & Codes

An example of a septic system design regulation that does not legislate inspection and testing, one of many you can find through the links I give just above, is

Cayuga County NY's use of New York State's Septic Design Standards NYS 75-A.0 New York State Regulation of Private Septic Systems (2016) Complete PDF

[PDF] - this is a state level document, original source https://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/nycrr/title_10/part_75/appendix_75-a.htm

But there are not many "septic testing" regulations or laws across the U.S. states - and there's been resistance to such laws by some parties.

Inspection / Test Laws for Existing Septic Systems

Here are some actual U.S. "septic inspection or test laws" we've found:

Septic Testing Guidelines, Advice, Not Regulations/Laws

Typical examples of U.S. state septic system inspection advice or guidelines (these are guidelines not regulation nor law)

Few local governments, state, or county have in recent years suggested some basic guidelines for septic inspection or testing but generally with none of the detail that I maintain is essential for such a test to be meaningful and valid.

Compare the above to more general septic installation regulations such as the following:

Septic Test Procedure Recommendations from Inspection Associations

In the U.S. (I guess that's your location) the people who have made some modest effort at specifying what should be done during the inspection, and perhaps testing, of an existing septic system at the time of sale (beyond MA Title 5) are mostly home inspection associations. Even those folks are conflicted: such tests are not the part of any home inspection law nor home inspection standard.

Ancillary inspections or tests such as septic, mold, wood destroying insects, are permitted but not required.

Others who are hardly without conflict of interest, such as septic pumping agencies and companies, oppose septic inspections at all by anyone other than septic pumping contractors, and certainly oppose loading and dye tests. In my OPINION this is a conflicted position and one that could be better handled.

See "The Dye Test Myth" from the Pennsylvania Septic Pumpers Association found at http://www.psma.net/dye_test_myth.cfm

The pumpers association article is in my view a bit incomplete in its failure to distinguish among worthless superficial septic "tests" and more careful and thorough septic system inspections (perhaps including a loading and dye test) that can be quite diagnostic.

US Government Septic Inspection & Testing Regulations

Simlarly, at a national level, the U.S. EPA does not describe septic test procedures for home buyers or home inspectors among the agencies guidance and policies.

Here is the US EPA's page on septic system policies and regulations: https://www.epa.gov/septic/septic-systems-guidance-policy-and-regulations

If you have found U.S. or other states or provinces who have begun to regulate septic testing of existing installations I would be grateful to hear about it.

I'm sorry that you were so vexed as to be driven to be insulting to a total stranger.

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Question:

(Feb 21, 2015) jeff brown said:
have a new idustrial building 5 years old and during the winter i have to pump the septic twice a month and not at all during the warmer months. i would presume its because the ground is frozen, how would i corect the problem

Reply:

I'd inspect the effluent piping between tank and drainfields to see I'd it's above the frost line and freezing. Also check in the D-box for uneven flow among soakbed liines.


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