ONSITE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM SURVEY OF THE LEMON DRIVE AND PLEASANT VIEW DRIVE NEIGHBORHOOD IN LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

The Lemon Drive and Pleasant View Drive neighborhood of Lynchburg, Virginia was built on small lots with poor soils in the 1950s and 1960s, before modern septic system laws were made, and 37% of the homes in this neighborhood have a recorded septic system failure. This study was done to determine the feasibility of continuing to use onsite sewage disposal in this neighborhood, or whether provision of public sewerage is needed. Health Department records, Geographic Information Systems, and observations from the state road right of way were used to collect data for this survey. 79% of the homes in this neighborhood have a limited lot size of either less than one half acre, or are less than one acre and also have a well, which could serve as a conduit to the groundwater. 66% of the homes have site and soil limitations, which is defined as being located on a drainage way, having cut and fill landscapes, or the base of their home is topographically lower than the road. The Wilkes and Enon Soil series are the primary soil series in the Lemon Drive and Pleasant View Drive neighborhood. Enon soils have slowly permeable clayey horizons, often with shrink swell horizons. Wilkes soils can have paralithic material as shallow as ten inches deep. Both of these soils are inadequate for subsurface soil absorption systems and increase the likelihood of a sewage outbreak. Both limited lot size, and site and soil limitations makes it challenging, and sometimes impossible to fix or install a septic system. City sewer is available to eleven out of the twenty-nine homes that were surveyed (38%) and will cost the home owner $3,280 to connect. Further expansion of the city public sewer collection system to include all homes along Lemon Drive and Pleasant View Drive would benefit both the Blackwater Creek Watershed and the general public health of the community.