What is this pipe?

[sleuthgirl]

Can someone help me identify this pipe?  The septic tank, according to the county Board of Health, is upper right in front yard (near the first and second tree) with the pipe running south toward road.  The fingers then go west.  This pipe, or whatever it is, looks like it starts near the tank and runs crosswise from northeast to southwest right at me.  Could be a dispersant pipe.  Not sure.  Recent e.coli test in our swale (left in photo) indicated 77,000 per mm.  County Board of Health said likely due to heavy rains and is a one time event.  No real comment from them about this pipe although, they did say they could see 3 or 4 tiles running at us.  I found these images on county GIS and quite a few others on Google Earth.  Have located at least a dozen trenches coming at us from this property.  Had been suspecting this was the cause of our being flooded out.  Neighbor has a basement with flooding problems.  I've also located what appears to be a drywell.  Drywell was installed when we were not home but, other trenches had to be done at night.  I did hear what sounded like a jackhammer one night a couple of years ago.  A few months ago, while watching a landscaping show, they had a Ditchwitch (sp?) and I realized that is what I heard at 2AM.  The pipes in his leach field are buried 24" deep except for the southern most one closest to road, which is buried 18" deep.  I have another photo from 2005 GIS (this is 2007) that shows exceptional amount of water in this pipe that I will post.  Please help me solve this mystery!  

[sleuthgirl]

Here is second image from 2005 GIS.  Any thoughts?

[Stuart Meade]

 Do you have sewage surfacing to the ground surface on a regular basis?  Is the system backing up in the house?

Older septic systems are often made up of a maze of trenches, drywells and piping that was installed as a series of repair systems.
Often, nobody has any record of what's in the ground and there is really no way to figure out what's there without digging the whole thing up.

If you have a mystery "line" cutting across your yard, it might be from a second sewer routed from your house to a second field system.

Many homes were built with two (or sometimes three) smaller septic systems.  Sometimes the location of a bathroom addition made it hard to plumb it into the existing septic.  The "quick fix" was often to install a separate dry-well to service this bathroom.  In time, this bathroom plumbing will slow and later homeowners wont' be able to figure out why just the toilet and sink aren't functioning while the rest of the home's plumbing works fine.

These small, separate systems make troubleshooting a failure, and figuring out what's in the ground, much more difficult.
So, you may never know what exactly you have in the ground.

[sleuthgirl]

Thank you for your response.  The photo in question is actually my neighbor to the east of me.  The swale on the left of the photo is my property and this is where high e.coli contamination was found.  I am not certain if his septic is backing up.  I do know that he has experienced some significant basement flooding and, I assume, has taken steps to try to fix it.  I'm not sure what it is but, it seems to be either a pipe connected to the septic tank (I assume to keep effluent level low?) or some type of a pipe (possibly connected to his sump pump?) that is crossing over his leach field.  Am wondering from professionals what you think it might be.  His house is only 9 years old   County Board of Health diagram does not show this pipe.  We do experience significant odor at the far north part of our property when it floods and have found quite a few trenches coming from his basement to our property line via Google Earth.  It's my understanding that he does have a bathroom/shower in the basement.  It is possible that those pipes are running into the sump pump.  I have read that some people will do that to keep their basement septics from backing up due to high water table and heavy rain.  Not saying he has done that, just saying I have read that some do.  Here is another close up photo of my swale and what the water looked like.  I'm wondering if this maybe is greywater being discharged.  I am concerned that a pipe filled with any fluid is crossing over his leach field.  Doesn't seem kosher to me!  Any information would be most appreciated.

[sleuthgirl]

One more thing I should mention, the water from the north side of our property (that has the terrible odor) does flow to the south and ends up in our swale.  This could be the source of the e.coli count, as well.

[Stuart Meade]

Who did the testing that revealed high ecoli?? 

So, high ecoli water is entering your property from your neighbor's yard.
This is more than a nuisance, it's a public health threat!  Your local health department (or who ever is in charge of enforcing local health regulations) must deal with this problem, especially now that the problem is know.

Have you filed a complaint against your neighbor?   If your local health department is not doing anything to force your neighbor to remedy the problem, you need to contact their "bosses" (e.g. Health board or county commissioner).

[sleuthgirl]

The county health department did the testing.  I called them when I received the results and they asked me for my neighbors name and said they were going to come out and talk with him.  They called me afterward and said that they asked him some questions and felt like he was not being straight with them.  The head guy said that he thought it was likely a one time event due to the heavy rains and that they couldn't say if it was his system or ours.  Our finger system is higher than his and has never been under water.  We have never had any problems....no back ups, no drain problems, no standing water, nothing.  I don't know if he has ever had septic problems, but I do know he has had significant basement flooding.  When there are heavy rains the surface water does flow over a small part of his finger system.  So, I thought ok, it was surface water flowing over his field that caused this e.coli count.  Then someone, with a PHD in Geology, told me that a count that high was not likely surface water contamination.  That is why I am not sure what to believe.  One person says that's normal surface water contamination and another says no way is that surface water contamination.   I found the GIS site and saw the pipe (which the local health department doesn't have on his septic plans) and thought that might be the cause. 

What I am trying to ask is, would surface water flowing over part of his finger system cause an e.coli count of 77,000 per mm in the surface water that ended up in my swale?  Or is a count that high more likely to be effluent or septic draining on us.  Also, based on the 2005 GIS photo, the pipe appears to have a large amount of some kind of water or fluid flowing through it.  The only things I can think of that would be flowing through it is effluent from his tank (which is in the area of where it starts) or water from a sump pump from his basement.  Would you know of any other reason for this pipe?  Either way, it appears as though it's not likely supposed to be there.  It's my understanding that you cannot cross your finger system with any type of drain.  There is also a drywell visible in the photos and I don't know what it is hooked up to either.  It is about 10 feet away from my swale.  If I follow the pipe that runs into the dry well and work my way back I end up near his septic tank.  Do some people hook up drywells to drain septics?  This drywell was installed about 8 years ago after extreme basement flooding.  I know very little about this and am trying to educate myself before I take the next step. 

Also, does anyone have any thoughts about the last photo I posted?  Does this look like greywater?  There is some yellowish stuff in there too.  This is what prompted me to call the health department in the first place.   

Thank you for your help!

[Toxic Avenger]

You asked if surface water running over a septic field could cause high E.coli count.  Well, there are probably several ways that it might, and not all of them could be caused by the septic field itself.  For instance, does your neighbor, or you, have dogs that do "their business" in the yard over the septic field.  I have two large dogs myself, and can tell you I have ALOT of dog "mines" in my yard that if a heavy amount of surface water were to flow across my yard and settle in a lower spot then that water would most definitely have a high e.coli count.  But if you haven't seen actual ponding, or other signs of septic systems failure, over your neighbor's septic field, then it will be very hard to prove the contaminated water is coming from you neighbor's property.  Other signs of a failed or stressed septic system may include soggy/mushy spots in the yard that never seem to dry up, heavy dark green grass over the septic "fingers" when the rest of the yard is normal-looking, etc. 

[sleuthgirl]

Thanks Toxic Avenger!  I'll keep that in mind.  I have done a little research and did see that even a large flock of geese can contribute to high readings.   

[Toxic Avenger]

I also prefer aggregate & pipe versus chambers, because no matter how well you design a chamber's strength, they still do not distribute effluent as efficiently as perforated pipe does.  They are NOT a bad alternative though, just not as good, IMO.