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I've done a fair amount of work with wells and septic systems over the years.



In this part of the world a soil test is for your septic system. The way the septic system works is that the sewer pipe leaves the house carrying all of your waste water.

That pipe runs about ten feet into your septic tank. The septic tank holds about 1,500 gallons of sewage and it's in there that the solids (poop & grease) are trapped and biodegraded.

When the waste water (solids removed) leaves the tank it goes out to a leaching field. It's in the leach field that the waste water is absorbed back into the ground.

The soil test (or percolation test ) is done prior to putting in a leach field to make sure that the soil will absorb your waste water.

Septic systems are generally designed by a soil scientist that specializes in that kind of thing. They're sized according to the number of bedrooms a home has.

In the average household they figure about 75 - 90 gallons per day ...per person. That's water that has to be drawn from the well and water that gets sent out to the septic system.