Hi Glort, I too live on a property with a septic tank. The very first thing I did when I moved here was to divert gray water from showers, basins and sinks away from the septic tank. That grey water now keeps the grass green.
The biggest problem with our septic system is that the soak away meets the regulations regarding the rate of fall from the tank. Consequently, in a storm event the water flowing through the paddock, will back fill the septic tank. We then get bad smells until the ground dries out and the soak away starts working again. I have seen it so bad that raw sewage is running down the hill into the creek, but this is Australia where the rules out way good practice and common sense.
Where we live is the water catchment area for Grafton and Coffs Harbour, so the council are for ever sending out inspectors to check our sewerage arrangements. They can`t get to where I live when there has been heavy rain so they have no idea how much sh1t gets washed into the rivers and gets drunk by the residents down stream. I could never understand why it was OK for cattle, pigs, chickens, kangaroos, dogs and etc to sh1t in the catchment area but human waste had to be treated. I recently had a conversation with a local Ranger who told me that the inspector is n`t interested in my septic tank, he just wants an opportunity to come on my property and have a look for any improvements I may have made which would allow the council to jack up my council tax! Sounds about right to me, I`ve been illegally using grey water for six or seven years and the inspector has never noticed, too busy taking photos of my house and shed to inspect anything.
About 30 Km from here there is a small town called Coutts Crossing, there is a water purification plant which feeds Grafton and also a sewerage treatment plant. After heavy rainfall events, these facilities are under many meters of water, the sewage and drinking water wash out into the local river and run out to sea. Once the flood water resides they quickly start pumping drinking water to Grafton, despite the fact that it is contaminated with the river water and the effluent from the sewage plant. As far as I am aware we have never had any outbreaks of cholera, typhoid or other water born infections.
Next time that I get a letter telling me the council would like to inspect my sewerage facilities, I might just lock the gate and tell the useless snooping b*stards to go f*ck themselves.
Rant over,
Bob