 field, redirect them away from the drain field. Reroute any surface water flow. Watch your water meter with all the water taps shut off to make sure there is no plumbing leak-or if you are on a well- SOLVING PROBLEMS does the pump switch on after a period of time when no water has been used in the house or from outside taps? Fix any leaks. Now let's assume that you didn't find any significant inflow prob- lems. That leaves expanding the absorption capacity as the remain- ing solution. There are many ways to do this; the best way depends on the particular problem. If the drain field has simply died of old age, the best solution is to install another drain field and let the original rest for a year. Then alternate fields every year. The problem may have been that the original field was slightly undersized, you used more water as time went by, or you did not get the septic tank pumped out at proper intervals. If replacement is not feasible, you may be able to add an addition onto the existing field. The addition could be a bed, another trench, or any other disposal system. The addition can be installed right next to the original field or could be connected by unperforated pipe. The size of the addition should be as large as possible, up to a full-size drain field. If there is just no more room, there are still some alternatives. If you've got trenches spaced a sufficient distance apart, dig new trenches between the old ones, making sure you won't be digging into clogged soil. If the clogged soil thickness is not too great, you can do a "root canal," as described earlier. Finally, you can try to add chemicals to the drain field to see if you can break up and oxidize the clogging layer. Unfortunately, this process is not a do-it-yourself proposition, and the results are not always satisfactory. If you want to look into this anyway, check the References section for literature on this technique. Water Conservation If someone told you that the average American uses 1800 gallons of water per day, you would think that the