Beltane Waning Flower Moon
We live beyond the MUSA line. Not very far beyond, it cuts Andover almost in half. The Metropolitan Urban Services Area line establishes the land which must have city water and sewer. It snakes around the outline of the seven county metropolitan area, attempting to adjust the size and density of suburban development. Planning officials created the MUSA line in the long ago as a tool to prevent urban sprawl. It hasn’t worked.
The house we purchased 15 years ago sits on a 2.5 acre lot and has its own sewer (septic) and water, a well. This has happened all around the seven county metro area. Larger size residential lots leapfrogged the MUSA line and went in with their own utilities.
From the standpoint of personal independence I prefer our situation.
At any rate this all means we have to manage our own septic system and our own well and water deliver system. Today we had the septic system pumped out–every 2 years. The guy who did it took off the manhole cover and checked the baffles. Who knew we had baffles?
Anyhow this 15 year old system was made of concrete and the baffles had cracked and one had fallen off, so we had to replace them. In order to do this the guys from Kothrade Sewer, Water and Excavation had to get down inside the tank. Turns out this can kill you. The fumes. As I thought about it, I thought, gee, that makes sense.
How would you like to make your living crawling around somebody’s septic system? Me neither. It cost $175 for protective gear to work in a confined space, an OSHA requirement. This is real danger, two guys in Minnesota in the last year after crawling down a thirty-foot deep manhole into a new system. Curing concrete sucks up 02. The first guy in passed out and died. His buddy went down to see what was wrong. He died, too.
There aren’t many things worth dying for and our septic system is sure not one of them.
