ubleshooting procedure and having determined that the drain field has lost its ability to absorb the liquids going into it, evaluate the alternatives below and select the most cost-effective which will solve your particular problem. SITING AND SYSTEM PROBLEMS If there appears to be a problem with siting, design, construction, or installation, and you hired a contractor to do the job, contact him and see if he is willing to return and fix the system. Many contrac- tors will do repairs free of charge if they are responsible for a prob- lem that occurs within one year of the contract. Some localities hold the contractor legally responsible for a period of two years. Check with the government agency that licenses contractors to see what their obligations are. Check with the sheriff's office or the local consumer protection group to see what rights you have. If you did the job yourself, you can either fix it yourself or hire an experienced contractor. What to do to fix the system depends, of course, on what's wrong with it. Siting problems include location and orientation. System problems include design (including sizing), installation, and materials problems. The best correction of a siting problem is to move the drain field to a better site. However, if the drain field is in a depression or natural channel, artificial channels can be cut to reroute snowmelt and run- off, and fill can be used to build up the surface and eliminate the low spots. If the drain field is in an area of high ground water and that's a cause of failure, look at the possibility of constructing a sand mound or other suitable alternative system. If the drain field is on a slope and the trenches are not situated across the slope (and SO collect water at one end or the other), one solution is to add another trench downslope from the problem area to accept the overload. If the drain field is simply too small, you can either add more or reduce the amount of water flowing into it (or both). In general, 226 ONSITE WASTEWATER DISPOSAL where problems ha