Septic guides

Signs of septic trouble

• Slow drains. Especially when several drains are slow at once, or the lowest drains in the house.
• Gurgling. Toilets or drains that gurgle after water runs.
• Odors. A sewage smell near the tank, the drain field, or inside.
• Wet ground. Spongy soil or standing water over the drain field when it hasn’t rained.
• Extra-green grass. Lush stripes of grass over the lines can mean wastewater is surfacing.
• A pump alarm. On systems with a pump, the alarm means the water level is too high.

Septic dos and don’ts

• Do pump on schedule. The EPA says most household tanks are typically pumped every three to five years.
• Do spread out laundry and fix leaking toilets and faucets.
• Do keep roof gutters and sump water directed away from the drain field.
• Don’t flush wipes, paper towels, feminine products, grease, or medications, even ones labeled “flushable.”
• Don’t drive or park on the tank or drain field, or build over them.
• Don’t plant trees or large shrubs near the lines, where roots can grow into them.

More on pumping.

Buying a home on septic

A standard home inspection usually doesn’t include the septic system. Ask the seller for the county septic permit and any pumping records, and schedule a septic inspection early in your due diligence period. The permit shows the approved system type and how many bedrooms it was designed for. In Cumberland County, permit records are kept by Environmental Health.More on inspections.

After a flood or hurricane

When the ground is flooded or saturated, a drain field can’t absorb wastewater. Use as little water as possible until the water goes down, and don’t pump the tank while the ground is still flooded, since an empty tank can shift in soggy soil. Once things dry out, have the system checked if drains are slow, the tank was underwater, or a pump system lost power.

Fayetteville soils and water

Fayetteville sits in the Sandhills on the western edge of the Coastal Plain, along the Cape Fear River. The county’s old USDA soil survey describes a county dominated by sands and sandy loams, with deep, loose sand in the sand-hill region to the northwest and poorly drained, often saturated soils in low areas. Sandy ground moves water fast, and wet ground has little room to spare, so either way the drain field is the part of the system to protect.

Sewer is still reaching parts of the city. Fayetteville PWC’s annexation program is extending lines to neighborhoods that were on septic, a project scheduled to run through 2037. Outside the city, much of the county still relies on septic.

Hurricane Matthew in 2016 brought about 14 inches of rain on top of a wet week and closed parts of I-95. Hurricane Florence in 2018 pushed the Cape Fear River to within about a foot of the Person Street bridge. If your system was underwater, have it checked. Cumberland County’s water and sewage page links to state guidance for septic systems before, during, and after a flood.

Want to know what septic work costs? See our septic tank cost guide.

For local details, see the pages forHope Mills, Cedar Creek, Eastover, Rockfish, Stedman, and Spring Lake, and our other service areas.