May 7, 2007--Septic issues again

I had a frustrating day today. We just got our septic tank pumped again last week (a week ago today, exactly) and I went to flush and it didn't go down. It hasn't even rained this week! I can't believe it's full again already. It's just water, but it won't flow out of the tank like it should. The ground is still too wet. I'd heard talk that our town was supposed to get a sewer system sometime, so I called the Health Department to ask when that was supposed to happen. The guy told me that there aren't any plans to put a sewer system in our town at all, not anytime ever. He suggested that we not do any laundry and give it a break. He asked if there was room to build a finger system--there's not. He then told me that if I wanted him to, he'd get in touch with the people who own the house and come out and look at it and take care of it. I asked him what he could do, and basically that means he could make the owners fix it (if possible) or even condemn the house if it couldn't be fixed. He's not going to pursue it though unless we want him to, and he said he'd move heaven and earth to not have to condemn it. I don't want to force them to try and fix it. We're not paying any rent here, they have much bigger troubles and I don't want to make life more miserable than it already is. I know they'd like to sell it, but they aren't going to be able to do that with the septic issues. Erick and I had considered buying it and probably could get it cheap, but I don't think I'd want it now, even if they gave it to us. Besides, Erick's going to be looking for a church sometimes this year, when he feels like he's ready (which he doesn't yet). We probably won't stay in this area. As much as I'd like to, I know it probably won't happen. So we've got to figure out how to do laundry and not fill up the septic tank. I did some this afternoon and put the hose to the washer into a five-gallon cooler and let it empty out in that and dumped it about eight times for one load of laundry. It wasn't fun. I watered the front lawn with it (which actually did need some water, believe it or not!) I just hope soapy water is okay for grass. The good news is the toilet did flush later on, so maybe the septic tank needs to be just treated gently and not overworked.