Septic resources · Reference sheet
Where to read up on your septic system
Before you call anyone, it helps to know what a septic system is made of and who signs off on it. These are the three pages we send people to. They come from the federal agency, the state and the county health district, not from us, so you can check what we tell you against what they publish.
When you are ready to talk about your own lot, our site design and inspection pages explain how we work, and the office is a phone call away.
What each page covers
Three references, one for each question you are likely to have
Ref 1
United States Environmental Protection Agency
How Septic Systems Work
This is the plain-language walk through a conventional system: what the tank does, what the drainfield does, and where the water goes after that.
It is the right first read if your house came with a system you have never had to think about, or if a pumping or inspection report used words you did not recognise.
Read it on epa.govRef 2
Washington State Department of Health
Maintaining Your Septic System
The state's own guidance on keeping a system working, written for Washington homeowners rather than for the country in general.
Worth a look before you buy a property on septic, before you schedule a pumping, or any time you are deciding what is safe to put down the drain.
Read it on doh.wa.govRef 3
Yakima Health District
Types of Septic Systems
The district is the office that reviews and approves a system design in Yakima County, so its pages are the ones that matter when you are planning something new.
Start here when you are comparing gravity, pressure distribution, mound or other designs for a lot, or when you want to know how a permit moves through review.
Visit the Yakima Health District
Sister company
Viking Plumbing & Mechanical
If the problem is inside the house rather than out in the yard, our sister company Viking Plumbing & Mechanical handles plumbing and mechanical work. We do not have a web page to send you to for them, so call the office at (509) 367-3384 and we will point you the right way.
Our own pages
Read our guides
Written for homeowners around Yakima, Ellensburg, Selah and the Tri-Cities, and checked against how we actually work on site.
- The blog
Articles on septic care, system types and how a design gets permitted.
- Septic tank pumping and cleaning
How the vacuum truck work goes, and the record you should get afterwards.
- Septic system installation
From permit and excavation to the crane-set tank and the final inspection.