A reader recently asked how drip irrigation systems operate to treat septic tank effluent. In general, a drip irrigation system is nothing more than a type of pressure distribution system where the goal is to spread the septic tank effluent out over both space and time. This means that effluent is applied across the entire soil treatment area (space) and at certain times of the day (time).
A drip irrigation system consists of some level of pretreatment, a dosing tank, pump controls, flowmetering device, filtration headworks and the dripfield for final dispersal and treatment. The dripfield has 1/2-inch-diameter tubing with a
