Rising Groundwater Means Trouble for Coastal Septic Systems

Sea level rise and big storms are hammering coastal communities, causing increased flooding and land loss, saltwater intrusion, wetland loss/change and impacts to local infrastructure. Communities along the coast often have their individual, onsite wastewater treatment systems. In North Carolina alone, there are about 1 million homes with septic systems that are either on a coastline or are located in watersheds that drain into the ocean.To operate effectively, coastal septic systems rely on unsaturated soils to filter wastewater and direct flow away from homes. But in some communities, the shallow groundwater table is rising, leaving homeowners in a precarious position.“Typically, when