Before establishing an RV Park septic system, you must be familiar with the minimum requirements for RV wastewater management.
For instance, each of the RVs must be connected to a septic system that is approved by the local authority.
Here are some of the other important requirements that you may want to keep in mind:
Review and Approval
Anyone who wants to install an RV park septic system must first apply for approval by the local health department (LHD).
The LHD will review the application and either approve or disapprove it.
Here are the factors that will be considered.
I. Design Daily Flow
An RV park septic system should support a daily flow rate of 1,500 per day.
A maximum daily flow rate for a traditional RV is 120 gallons per day (gdp) per space.
This is based on the assumption that a single RV will have a maximum occupancy of four persons.
A park model RV has a maximum daily flow of 175 gdp per space and it also has a maximum of four occupants.
One can design a park that has a combination of both park models and traditional RVs as long as the overall daily flow rate of the park is at least 1,500 gpd.
II. Collection sewer
RV septic systems should not include collection sewers.
Instead, provision should be made for regular pumping of the tanks.
The frequency of the pumping will vary based on local regulations and usage of the systems.
As a rule of thumb, your tank should be pumped at least once every 2-3 years but it can be sooner if your local authority says so.
III. Drain field
Both the size and design of the drain field will be determined by the local health department.
The RV park owner is not permitted to reduce the size recommended by the health department.
Additionally, the drain field area should not be used for parking of RVs as that may result in compacting which is a bad practice for drain fields.
Evaluation and Design by a Licensed Professional
Your local health department may request the involvement of a licensed professional.
In some cases, it might be necessary to have an advanced septic system as opposed to the conventional system that is typically used for RV parks.
For instance, if your unreduced design daily flow rate will exceed 1,500 gpd, then a professional engineer may be required in the evaluation and design stage.
The professional engineer will advise on the best pretreatment or other advanced systems.
In some cases, the authorities may also recommend consulting with a licensed soil scientist.
Design Parameters and Considerations
When designing your RV park septic system, the following design parameters and considerations must be taken into account:
I. Tank and Effluent Screen Capacity:
The tank and effluent screen capacity should be based on the unreduced design daily flow.
This ensures that the septic system can effectively handle the expected volume of wastewater generated by the RV park.
The table below gives the minimum size requirements for the tanks in an RV septic system:
| Number of RVs | Septic tank capacity in gallons |
| 1 | 1,000 |
| 2 | 1,000 |
| 3 | 1,500 |
| 4 | 1,800 |
You can also use the unreduced flow to calculate the tank capacities on the property.
The table below summarizes the tank capacities as calculated from unreduced flow rates:
| Unreduced flow (Q) in GPD | Minimum septic tank capacity in gallons |
| Q=600 -1500 | 3xQ |
| Q = 1501 – 3,000 | 2Q+1500 |
| Q= 3001-4,500 | Q+ 4,500 |
| Q= 4,500+ | 2Q |
II. Long-Term Acceptance Rate:
Long-Term Acceptance Rate (LTAR) refers to the quantity of wastewater that can be applied over a given acreage for a finite period.
As a rule of thumb, the LTAR of the system should not be more than what the soil profile can handle.
You may need to consult with a soil scientist to establish the LTAR values for the property.
Maintenance and Operation
Before you can open the RV Park for business, you will need a designated operator in responsible charge (ORC) who will help with routine maintenance and operations of the septic system.
The ORC should be familiar with the legislative environment and help to keep the park in compliance with the law.
Some of the tasks of the ORC include:
- Monitoring of effluent before it is dispersed to ensure that no maximum levels are exceeded
- Monitoring the groundwater to ensure no pollution is happening
- Have prominent signs at the entrance of the park to notify visitors that they should dump the contents of their RV holding tanks at the designated dump station before they are connected to the subsurface system
- Provide guidelines on how odor control should be done. For instance, users of the park should be guided on what chemicals/products are allowed. As a rule of thumb, only bacteria-based products should be encouraged as most chemical-based products will kill helpful bacteria in the septic tank.
- Regular pumping of the septic tanks. Even though the law requires the tanks to be pumped every 2-5 years (depending on your location), the ORC should monitor the quantities and schedule a pumping if it is needed quicker than usual.
.
