Soils and Site Evaluations

The DCSWCD provides fee-based services of a board-certified soil scientist to review site and soil suitability for onsite septic systems and other land uses. While septic system designs now must come from a professional engineer licensed in NY State, the DCSWCD’s service provides site and soil data suitable for subdivision review by local planning boards.

Typical site data collected include general location, soil type (e.g., glacial till with hardpan, or outwash sand and gravel), and approximate area. Typical soil data include building lot number, depth to and type of restrictive features (e.g., fragipan, perched water table, bedrock), surface slope, test hole depth. Percolation tests, when performed at the proper depth, indicate absorptive capacity of the soil at the likely depth of leachfield trenches.

Contact Larry Day for further information.