Septic Engineer in Clay, NY
Clay sits on an old glacial lake bottom between the Oneida and Seneca rivers. Where sewer has not reached, the soil makes septic design the hard part.
Fees. Process. Answers.
Septic design for Clay, NY, from soil test to county approval.
No. Clay is in the county sanitary district and the Oak Orchard and Wetzel Road plants serve much of the town, but WEP says being in the district does not by itself mean a property can connect. River edge and rural parcels may still need septic.
Clay sits on old glacial lake sediment. Collamer, Niagara and Rhinebeck soils perc slowly and hold spring water. The USDA rates about 98 percent of rated land in the town very limited for conventional fields.
It depends on the pit. A mound needs native soil that percs faster than 120 minutes per inch, 1 foot to high water, 2 feet to bedrock and slopes under 12 percent. A raised bed needs 1 to 2 feet of soil faster than 60 minutes per inch and 1 foot to high water.
The Onondaga County Health Department, Bureau of Public Health Engineering, at 421 Montgomery Street, Syracuse. The Town of Clay Department of Codes issues the building permit.
Designs are prepared and stamped by a New York licensed Professional Engineer (PE). Backwell coordinates testing, design, approval and the install.
Use the form. Estimate in 1 hour.
Septic engineer in Clay, NY: what it is and who needs one
Most of Clay is suburban and sewered, but not every road, and not every lot near the Oneida and Seneca rivers. Where a septic system is still the plan, a septic engineer tests the soil, designs to Appendix 75-A and takes the design through the Onondaga County Health Department. In Clay the soil is the story: the town sits on an old glacial lake plain, and almost all of it rates very limited for a standard field.
Backwell coordinates testing, design, the health department submittal and the install. Designs are prepared and stamped by a New York licensed Professional Engineer (PE).
Clay's sewer plants and the gaps between them
Clay is in the county Consolidated Sanitary District. Two county plants sit in or next to the town: the Oak Orchard Wastewater Treatment Plant on Oak Orchard Road, running since 1981, serves a large section of Clay plus parts of Cicero and North Syracuse, and the Wetzel Road plant in Liverpool serves parts of Salina and Clay. That covers the suburban core well.
It does not mean every parcel can connect. WEP states that location inside the district does not alone determine whether a property is served or can be. The places to ask are the river edges along the Oneida River on the north line and the Seneca River on the west, out toward Three Rivers, Euclid and Woodard. The town's planning office notes the Micron semiconductor site at White Pine Commerce Park, and WEP lists a White Pine pump station among its projects, so sewer coverage near that corridor is changing.
Soils in Clay and the system they point to
Clay was the bottom of a glacial lake. Collamer and Niagara silts, formed in lake sediment, cover about 40 percent of the town. Rhinebeck clay, Carlisle muck in the old swamps, and some fast Colonie sand on old beach ridges fill out the map.
| Soil series | Share of land | What it is (USDA) | What it usually means for the design |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collamer | 24% | very deep, moderately well drained silty lake sediments | Slow perc and spring wetness. Long trenches, shallow trenches or a raised bed. |
| Niagara | 17% | very deep, somewhat poorly drained silty lake sediments | High seasonal water and slow perc. Raised beds and mounds are common here. |
| Rhinebeck | 9% | very deep, somewhat poorly drained clayey lake sediments | Clay with high spring water. Perc slower than 60 minutes per inch pushes toward a raised bed or mound. |
| Williamson | 5% | deep, moderately well drained silty lake or wind deposits with a slow fragipan | The fragipan acts like a floor. Usable soil above it decides shallow trench versus raised bed. |
| Colonie | 4% | very deep, well to excessively drained fine sand | Fast sand. The design may need to slow effluent down. |
| Carlisle | 4% | very poorly drained organic muck in depressions | Muck is not usable soil for an absorption field. The field has to go on a different part of the lot. |
USDA septic absorption field ratings, the Town of Clay boundary: very limited 98 percent, somewhat limited 2 percent of rated land. Leading limits: slow water movement, shallow seasonal water, ponding.
Those soils add up to about 98 percent of rated land in the very limited class for a conventional field, the highest share of any town in this part of the county. Slow water movement is the top reason, then shallow seasonal water and ponding. A Collamer lot may take long shallow trenches if the perc stays under 60 minutes per inch. A Niagara or Rhinebeck lot with spring water 1 to 2 feet down is a raised bed or mound site. Carlisle muck is not usable soil at all, so the field has to go on a different part of the lot.
River edges and wet ground in Clay
The Oneida River marks Clay's north line and the Seneca River its west line, meeting the Oswego River near Three Rivers. Fields stay 100 feet from those rivers, their creeks and any wetland. Where a lot touches a DEC regulated wetland, the county guidelines note a DEC permit may be needed for work in the 100 foot adjacent area. Flood elevations go on the plan, and the system has to sit above the 100 year flood level.
Clay's code office also notes it does not keep surveys older than 15 years, so a current survey or plot plan helps the design.
How a septic design in Clay works
- Send the address. Use the form. Estimate in 1 hour.
- Confirm sewer or septic. If a public sewer can serve the lot, you do not need a septic design.
- Perc holes and a deep test pit. At least two staked perc holes in the design area (30 inches deep for a conventional system) and a test pit logged to 6 feet for mottling, water and rock.
- Stamped design. A scaled plan with the tax map number, nearby wells, elevations and system details. Designs are prepared and stamped by a New York licensed Professional Engineer (PE).
- County submittal. Plan and fee go to the Bureau of Public Health Engineering, 421 Montgomery Street, Syracuse: 3 plan copies outside the lake watersheds. Once approved, a copy goes to the town.
- Town building permit. Town of Clay Department of Codes at Town Hall, 4401 Route 31, issues building permits and accepts them until 4:00 p.m.
- Install and inspection. County inspection on 24 hours notice. Inside plumbing is done by a plumber licensed through Onondaga County Plumbing Control, and fill systems get the engineer's fill certification first.
What it costs
The county fee schedule sets the health department side for a lot under 1,000 gallons per day: $310 full application, $186 redesigned project, $62 amended project or revised plan review, $93 site investigation, $62 repair inspection. The fee is paid with the plans and covers the county's review and construction inspection. Testing, design and install are priced in writing.
What the health department checks
The county reviews the plan against New York's Appendix 75-A and its own design guidelines. In Clay the checks that drive the design are the 2 foot separation to spring high water, the 100 foot setback from wetlands and the rivers, and the toe of fill setbacks on raised beds near lot lines.
- Flow and tank. 110 gallons per day per bedroom for new construction. Tank size follows the bedroom count.
- Usable soil. Conventional: 4 feet over rock, clay or high water, with water 2 feet below the trench bottom. Shallow trench: 2 to 4 feet. Raised bed: 1 to 2 feet, water 1 foot down. Mound: water 1 foot down, rock 2 feet down, native perc faster than 120 minutes per inch, slope under 12 percent.
- Separations. Field, raised bed or mound: 100 feet to wells (200 if upgrade in the drainage path), 100 feet to water and wetlands, 20 to the house, 10 to the lot line, measured from the toe of any fill. Tank: 50 feet to wells and water.
- Site limits. No field over 15 percent slope or below the 10 year flood level, system above the 100 year flood level, no soil faster than 1 minute per inch unless modified, and 50 percent expansion area where possible.
Common Clay problems and how the design handles them
Slow lake plain silt
The problem: Collamer and Niagara silts perc slowly, and soil slower than 60 minutes per inch is not usable for conventional trenches.
How the design handles it: If the native soil percs faster than 120 minutes per inch and water is at least 1 foot down, a mound with sand fill can carry the load. If not, a raised bed built on stabilized fill is the next look.
Muck on part of the lot
The problem: Carlisle and Palms muck are organic soils with no use as an absorption area.
How the design handles it: The test pits map where the mineral soil is. The PE puts the field there and keeps the well, house and lot line setbacks.
Raised bed close to the lot line
The problem: On fill systems, the 10 foot property line distance and other setbacks are measured from the toe of the fill, not the trenches.
How the design handles it: The PE lays out the fill footprint first, with side slopes no steeper than 1 on 3, and fits trenches inside it.
Timeline
Clay's lake plain soils are best tested in spring when the water is up, because that is what the county designs to. Mound systems get formal approval once the owner provides a construction schedule showing installation in dry soil conditions. Raised beds wait on the engineer's fill certification, which includes perc tests of the settled fill.
Sources
Soil shares and ratings come from the USDA NRCS soil survey (SSURGO) for Onondaga County, summarized for the Town of Clay boundary. Regulations and fees as published by the agencies below; they can change.
- Onondaga County Health Department, Septic Systems (Bureau of Public Health Engineering)
- Onondaga County Environmental Health fee schedule
- Onondaga County Design Guidelines for Individual Sewage Systems
- Onondaga County Health Department Fill Certification Form
- NYS DOH 10 NYCRR Appendix 75-A, Wastewater Treatment Standards, Residential Onsite Systems
- NYS DOH fact sheet: Need for Licensed Design Professionals, Residential OWTS
- Onondaga County WEP, Consolidated Sanitary District service area
- Onondaga County WEP Plumbing Control
- Onondaga County WEP, Oak Orchard WWTP
- Onondaga County WEP, Wetzel Road WWTP
- USDA NRCS Web Soil Survey, Onondaga County (NY067)
- USDA NRCS Soil Data Access (SSURGO), septic tank absorption field ratings
- Town of Clay Department of Codes
- Town of Clay Planning and Development
- Clay, New York (rivers and hamlets)
- USDA Official Series Description: Collamer
- USDA Official Series Description: Niagara
- USDA Official Series Description: Rhinebeck
- USDA Official Series Description: Williamson
- USDA Official Series Description: Colonie
- USDA Official Series Description: Carlisle
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