Septic Engineer in McGraw, NY

McGraw in two sentences

McGraw sits in the Trout Brook valley east of Cortland, and Trout Brook drains west to the Tioughnioga River. For any new house or replacement septic system outside a public sewer, Cortland County requires an engineer to run the soil tests, design the system and inspect the installation.

Designs are prepared and stamped by a New York licensed Professional Engineer (PE). Backwell coordinates the design, the Cortland County submittal, and the install.

Three soils, three designs

Valley terraces. Chenango and Howard gravelly loams, very deep and well to somewhat excessively drained. A field fits easily, but on primary aquifer lots with soils faster than 10 minutes per inch, Cortland County requires a cut and fill system with fill slower than 10 minutes per inch, and its separation policy calls for 200 feet from well to septic.

Trout Brook flood plain. Wayland silt loam, poorly and very poorly drained alluvium with an apparent water table at or near the surface. Appendix 75-A rules out areas below the 10 year flood level, and raised and mound systems both need the high water at least one foot down. Most flood plain ground is not a septic site, and the design moves to the terrace or the hillside.

Hillsides. Mardin channery silt loam, moderately well drained with a fragipan starting 14 to 26 inches down and a seasonal water table typically 14 to 24 inches deep, and Lordstown, moderately deep to siltstone and sandstone bedrock. One to two feet of usable soil points to a raised system built in fill.

Fill systems the Cortland County way

Raised systems are common on McGraw hill lots, and the county's rules add steps to the state code. Fill must have an in-place tested perc rate of 10 to 20 minutes per inch and be approved by the department before construction. The county application says fill must be inspected and allowed to settle 45 days before trenching, and not to use heavy clay soil as fill. Appendix 75-A adds that perc tests are run on the fill at the borrow pit and again after placement and settling, and the slower rate is used for design.

How it works in McGraw

1. Address and plan. Estimate in 1 hour.
2. Find the right soil. Terrace, flood plain or hillside, before the tests.
3. Perc and deep hole. Conducted by the engineer.
4. PE stamped design. With the site plan of sanitary facilities and distances to adjacent wells and systems.
5. Application. Cortland County Health Department, 60 Central Avenue, Cortland, with the $200 fee.
6. Install, inspect, complete. Fill settling where used, engineer inspection, final measurements, county completion.

What the county checks

• Lot size: 105,000 square feet without public water and sewer under the county rules.
• Groundwater and rock each at least two feet below trench bottoms.
• A 100 percent replacement area for the septic system.
• Well separation increased 50 percent where aquifer water enters a well less than 50 feet down.

McGraw problems and fixes

Timeline

Testing and design, county review and the installation permit, the 45 day settling period where fill is used, then trenching and completion. Permits run 12 months and renew for $65.

Sources

• NYS DOH, 10 NYCRR Appendix 75-A, Wastewater Treatment Standards, Residential Onsite Systems
• Cortland County Health Department, Sewage Systems
• Cortland County Environmental Health Fee Schedule, effective April 1, 2026
• Cortland County Sanitary Code, April 1, 2026 (Article XV and Minimum Lot Size rules)
• Cortland County Health Department, Revised On-Site Well and Septic Separation Distances
• Cortland County Health Department, Application for Subsurface Sewage Treatment Permit
• USGS Fact Sheet 2003-0054, Cortland-Homer-Preble aquifer system (Primary Aquifer and Sole Source Aquifer)
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Chenango
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Howard
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Wayland
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Mardin
• USDA NRCS Official Soil Series Description, Lordstown

Rules and fees as published by each office on the date this page was written. They can change; the design is checked against the current versions at submittal.