Drip septic systems for Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair lotsDripper systems that follow the lay of the land.

Lake Oconee covers 19,971 acres with 374 miles of shoreline and Lake Sinclair 15,330 acres with about 417 miles (Lake Oconee, Lake Sinclair). Much of that shoreline is hillside. On those lots a conventional field runs into three walls at once: the 25% slope limit, the two-foot separation to rock or seasonal water, and the room needed for wide trenches plus a full replacement area. Drip lines answer all three. They're shallow, they run level along each contour, and the tubing goes in with a vibratory plow, trencher or backhoe in a narrow slot instead of a three-foot-wide trench.

The shallow depth is the key. Georgia measures separation from the bottom of the drip tubing, and requires only 12 inches to a limiting layer. Piedmont lots that show rock or gray-mottled clay at 20 or 30 inches can be turned down for a conventional field and still qualify for drip. In the survey area covering Baldwin, Jones and Putnam, NRCS rates about 381,500 acres of the major soil components very limited for septic absorption fields (NRCS Soil Data Access).

Drip also lets a field wrap around trees. Lake owners want shade, and on Lake Oconee Georgia Power protects a 25-foot vegetative buffer and bars mechanical clearing on project lands without written approval (Georgia Power). Emitter lines can weave between keeper trees on your side of the line where a gravel field would have meant clear-cutting. The field still needs appropriate ground cover, and the final county inspection checks the landscaping after the house is finished.

The tradeoff is equipment. The EPA notes drip needs a large dose tank and electrical power, which add expense and maintenance (EPA). Every Georgia drip system has an aerobic unit in front, a dosing pump, filters, flush valves, check valves on slopes over 5%, and a controller that logs flow. Georgia requires a three-year initial service policy with a visit every six months, and owners are offered a continuing service contract after that. Our aerobic septic systems page covers the treatment side.

Drip fields are easy to damage during construction. A field staked before the house goes up can be crossed by concrete trucks, buried under spoil, or trenched through for an irrigation line. We do the land clearing, grading and erosion control on many of these lots, so the field area stays roped off from the first day and the emitter lines go in when heavy construction is done.