Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and many people began primarily working from home, that trend was developing, of companies’ workflows becoming conducive to getting more things done from the house.
The coronavirus only accelerated that trend, and while there can certainly be benefits to conducting your business from your home office – or potentially your couch, we’ll tell no one – it’s also worth thinking about the effects extra time in your abode might cause.
One of those is the potential impact on the septic system. Imagine the extra workload from eight to 10 hours’ worth of toilet flushes and the accompanying handwashing per day, accumulated over time.
Coming, of course, with potential problems are also possible solutions. And, in keeping with a long-running theme of this blog, one of them is preventative maintenance.
The use of more water during additional time at home is a given. Any additional bathroom or kitchen time adds up. With standard toilets using around seven gallons per flush, and even with low-flow models dipping less than two gallons a use, it adds up. Hand-washing, cooking, cleaning, even extra laundry – that’s all additional water taking its toll on a septic system.
Beyond that, the extra chemicals in soap or cleaning products that are deployed through the system on their way to the tank also add up and can impact the balance of bacteria in a septic tank.