Building homestead with no septic...thoughts

IF I were going to ask the local authorities, I'd do it anonymously, from a pay phone!

I prefer don't ask, don't tell... and, It's better to ask forgiveness, than to seek permission.

IMHO, as long as your own your own land, and with enough acreage to not effect your neighbors, indoor composters should be allowed. Havin' said that, town folk are sometimes a peculiar lot!

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

At our place, the gray water (clothes washer, sinks, and I think shower and tub) drains into a ditch/creek, as do at least two of our neighbors'. We have tons of frogs, crawdads, and small fish in the creek. Herons visit it regularly. I'm not sure how/why the creek is so healthy, but it is.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

I have really enjoyed reading this board over the last few months so I thought I might contribute some more....

Anyways...

This guy has some really interesting and unconventional ideas for waste/water management. He has even built a home and ran it for years using these ideas.

http://www.biorealis.com/

Enjoy!

In this area, the state requires that you must first have a leach field design submitted by a soil-science /septic-design engineer. The building permits give you five years, to get around to installing the septic system.

When I asked about alternatives like composting toilets and ponds; I was told that so long as you have the leech field installed, then you can use anything that you wish to use. They do not require that you ever use the leech field.

I have also seen a fellow at the fair, who sells a system that bubbles air through a air-stone in your septic tank. Just like bubbling air in a fish aquarium. They say that bubbling air like that will reduce pathogens too.

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http://www.mofga.org/

http://www.mofga.org/Programs/FarmAp...2/Default.aspx

We have gray water system ( 3 showers / 3 bathroom sinks / clothes washer / dishwasher and kitchen sink ). It flows out from two pipes, into black perforated pipes, down to a rock and gravel area. There grows black eye susan, echinacea, mint, wild azalea, wild large rubeccia, and misc grasses. We do not cut or eat from any of this, its purpose is simply to drink up the water. Where the main outlet of water comes out, there is small slimy yucky spot ( about 1 foot long by only 8 inches wide ) but other than that one spot, the rest is clean and there is no odor. I would not run it into my orchard due to the misc soaps.

We have 3 working outhouses ( we use regular toilets in the houses but also use the outhouses when outside or kids use them and camping guests ) and there is no odor nor trouble with any of them.

We also have 2 "home made" septics on the property ( they are not legal and we did not put them here but they were here when we bought our Cabin land and they work so we have not torn them up ). We are told they are metal 50 gallon barrrels and gravel drain lines. We have less problems with those two systems than we have had with the regular legal cement septic system.

Good luck.

No gray water can be dumped on the ground in the county I live in. Doesn't matter if it is shower, diswasher, washing machine, lavatory, etc. it is a no no.

One can still get a permit for an outhouse.