Suitability Assessment of Ohio's Soils for Soil-Bases Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Each of Ohio's 467 soil series was assessed to determine the depth of the soil to bedrock, the depth to a limiting soil condition, the depth to seasonal saturation, and the soil permeability. Each soil series was placed into one of three categories; suited for traditional leach fields or mound systems, suited for mound systems only, or not suited for soil-based treatment. In a mound system, a layer of sand is placed on top of the natural soil to augment its treatment capacity. Statewide only 6.4% of the land area is suited for soil absorption systems using traditional leach lines. This amounts to 1,680,020 acres of land. Soil series suited for mound systems are present in 25.4% of Ohio's land area accounting for 6,667,579 acres of land.