We live in Brooklyn and we bought a weekend house in October in long island. I was told we have a cesspool. Sometime in February a pipe burst and we didn't know it for several days. The burst went directly into the downstairs bathtub which overflowed into the basement.. we cant live there since it happened since our a good portion of our house was destroyed. We still check on it and last weekend we noticed this strange black film on one section of the grass. It's not sewage but almost looks like burnt material. My question is.. Is this film related to the cesspool, if so,what to do, and is it harmful to my dogs?

Cesspool? Is that a local term for a septic tank?

A cesspool, in my terms would be a open pond where the sewage goes.
If it is a underground tank, it is a septic tank,

The black film may be related to a broken pike,

If the basement area was flooded with sewage ? Why if no one was in the house flushing the toliets or using water? Water will not run back into the house from a septic tank or even a cesspool. So where did a pipe break? And who was in house to cuase all the damage?

Also, sewage in basement, can cause smell, maybe some mold. But it would only damage the area where it flooded.

When have you or when do you plan on repair, pull out the carpet that was flooded, any wet sheet rock. If you wait for repairs, you can find mold issues and what should be a less major project turn into a nightmare

No one was in the house because it's a weekend house. The pipe burst in the upstairs bathroom so it was all clean water. Since the downstairs tub was over flowing with water, could it be that we over filled or over flowed the septic system resulting in some back up in the yard?
We had professionals come in and take down the walls, carpet, etc

It is possible, that the septic filled, but it should have went down over time, after the water stop running. (normally it would leak out into the yard.

Is the sewer lines working OK now?

I'm not certain since we were waiting on the money from the insurance company to fix the house and haven't really used it. I was out there last weekend and noticed the black film in the yard (we previously had a lot of snow there so it was the first time I saw it) I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what it was and then I thought it might have something to do with the flood and septic system.

I think you nailed it... I think a lot of the water from the burst pipe went down the tub drain and ended up flooding the cesspool. Given a little time, the surrounding ground should absorb the excess water and all should be OK! I would keep the dog and all people from this area for awhile!

Mark

Thanks