I recently had a 25ft delivery truck arrive at my house (while I was not there), and in attempting to turn around on my narrow driveway, backed over my septic drain field. Since the ground was wet from heavy rains, the truck got stuck and dug foot-deep ruts in the yard trying to get out (we had to get a neighbor to help pull them out with a tractor).

I'm concerned that the truck's driving over the drain field might have damaged the field, either by compacting the soil too much or even cracking or crushing the drain pipes/tubes. I have not noticed any problems in terms of the performance of the septic system or pooling water near the ruts, but it's been less than 24 hrs so far.

Does anyone have any experience or insight regarding how likely it is that this incident damaged the field, or how I could tell if it had?

Further details:

I am not the original owner of the house, so I don't know how deep below the surface the field is placed, although from reading online, 4-6 ft is typical. The area with the drainfield has a series of shallow, parallel ridges and valleys running alongside part of our driveway and heading roughly away from our house. The truck was roughly 2/3 of the way to the far end of these ridges from our house. We live in Virginia and the ground is mostly clay, so that may limit how much compaction the weight of the truck would cause. As far as I know, the field has not been driven over regularly in the past, other than with my tiny lawn tractor.

The delivery company responsible is a tiny owner-operated business. They offered to fill in the ruts, but I think I'll have to file a claim with my insurance company if I want to get anything more than that done. My insurance company said the work would be covered (minus a deductible) if an excavator or other expert investigated the problem and said that the damage was clearly caused by the recent incident. Obviously, I don't want to have a septic failure, but I also don't want to go to unnecessary trouble and expense if it's over nothing. I've placed calls with a few excavating companies that do drainfield work to try and get opinions, but haven't heard back yet.

Well I am totally shocked your insurance company would pay for the delievry trucks damage, they have insurance for that just ask them. They offered to fill your rut proably out of their pocket so as to not file a claim. I am not saying they are dishonest but theor driver screwed up and they are liable. I would have at least one or two sewer contractors experinecd with septic installation come out and evaluate your system. The tile is about 3' down but compaction or damage could still have happened. Do not file with your company even though they have said they'd pay,keep after the trucking company and call you own contractors for on-site advice.

If you have a standard drain field. Get a plummer that has a camera to put in the line. If it's a standard system look for the distribution box. You will have a single pipe coming out of the tank to the distribution box. This distribution box may need found with a camera from the tank of from an access pipe that's usually every 50' from the tank.

After you found the box expose it. Send a camera down each line to see if any were smashed. This will completely solve the worry if the pipes were crushed and let you sleep. Most companies have a video tape they record when scoping out the line. It would be evidence as to the condition the drain field pipe are in. If pipes are fine then its basically a smashed field of the stone in the bed.
Most drain fields are only 3 feet deep or so.
Here's a site with most all systems so you can understand what you have after a plummer comes out. I have smashed a few by accident with the backhoe. Fortunately I install them and can fix the damage quick.

If the delivery truck back onto the field with out your permission then they are liable. If you said turn around here then its on you. For our concrete deliveries I'm responsible after what is stated as "curb side" for good reasons. Maybe you and your insurance company needs to call the delivery outfit.

Septic System Design (http://www.eco-nomic.com/indexsdd.htm#Septic%20System%20Costs)

Signed 21 Boat

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