Health Risks Related to Septic System Failure

Drinking Water

When your septic system fails, the first problem you may experience can be related to your drinking water. If the lines from a broken septic system contaminate your drinking water and one of your family members drinks from it, they may become sick. They may experience fever, respiratory problems, and nausea in the acute term. Inadequate hygiene and contaminated water can lead to the spread of illnesses like cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio in the long term.

Septic Fumes

The second health risk that is associated with a broken sewer system is that septic fumes contain microorganisms. If your septic system breaks down and sewage leaks out with these fumes, bacteria, and disease can also be transmitted. As a result of this, allergies, sinus infections, and other respiratory illnesses can be brought on. For example, methane is a tasteless, odorless, colorless, and combustible gas. Methane is poisonous to both people and animals, in addition to having a terrible smell. It makes your daily activities, like lighting your grill, quite dangerous because it's flammable. Methane has the potential to replace oxygen in a person's body and, as a result, makes a person deprived of oxygen and poison them. Another example is the hydrogen sulfide gas. Rotten eggs are the most prevalent description of this gas. Shortness of breath, a sore throat or cough, fluid buildup in the lungs, and eye irritation can all be the results. Long-term low exposure can result in headaches, exhaustion, pneumonia, nausea, agitation, memory loss, and vertigo.