Most of our soil classification work involves collecting data and preparing level III soil survey reports in support of septic system permitting. Onsite sewage management (septic) systems are common throughout Georgia outside of urban areas, but septic systems won’t work if installed in the wrong soil. Our installation of 72″-deep soil borings allow us to classify the soil at your site to determine the best location for your septic drainfield and provide level III soil reports to your health department for permitting your system.
Decades ago, percolation tests, or “perc tests” were used to test the rate of water infiltration to determine if soil was suitable for a septic system. Today, the old post hole digger and bucket of water approach has been replaced with a soil taxonomy system in which soil types at your site are assigned names based on their characteristics such as their colors, textures, mineralologies. Based on the soil series, the health department determines the site suitability for septic drainlines and the length of lines appropriate for a given location.
The soil in the photo below is gray, or has “low chroma.” This indicates that it’s often saturated with water and would be a poor location for a septic system. The gray color is a result of soil microbes’ reaction to being inundated, but that’s a longer story that we won’t explore here. The picture on the right is a state soil map. They can be helpful, but are often of insufficient detail to tell you much about a specific site and are better suited to show you, in general terms, the soils that might be expected in a certain region.
