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Red Clay Septic & Well
Index
Front page

Septic

OverviewTank pumpingInspectionsRepairsNew systems and permitsRed clay soilTriassic Basin soilsThe drain fieldSystem types (LPP, drip)Pump tank alarmsTank size by bedroomsEveryday careCounty permits and records

Wells

OverviewTesting a wellIron and manganeseAcidic (low pH) waterSofteners on wellsWhole-house filtersReverse osmosisRadon and uraniumArsenicWell permits and constructionBacteria and shockingPump and pressure tank

City water

OverviewDurham water qualitySeptic to sewer
About this site

About This Site

Painted Piedmont countryside: pasture, pines and a farmhouse along a muddy red clay road
Fig. 1 Illustration

Red Clay Septic & Well is a reference for people who live with a septic tank, a private well, or both, in the clay country around Durham, North Carolina. It covers Durham, Granville, Orange, Person and Chatham counties, plus a short section on City of Durham water and sewer.

What this site is not

This site is not a septic company, a well driller or a county health department. It does not pump tanks, issue permits, inspect systems or test water, and nothing here replaces a soil evaluation, an inspection or a lab result. It has no connection to any business that used this web address before.

When a page says a county "requires" something, that comes from the county's own published rules or forms, and the county office has the final word. Permits come from the local health department; inspections at sale come from inspectors certified by the state board; water tests come from a certified lab or the county.

How the pages are put together

Each page starts from the rules themselves: 15A NCAC 18E for septic systems, 15A NCAC 02C and 18A for wells, and the North Carolina statutes behind them. Next come the county environmental health pages and fee schedules, NC State Extension and Penn State Extension publications, NC Department of Health and Human Services guidance, EPA and USGS pages, and, for city water, the City of Durham's own reports. Every figure is tied to a named source, and the sources were checked in October 2026.

Some things are left out on purpose: contractor price lists, forum stories and product reviews. Where a source could not be opened or two sources disagree, the page says so instead of picking a number that looks tidy. Rules and fees change, so a date sits beside anything likely to move.

Ownership

Red Clay Septic & Well has the same owners as two stores that sell well-water treatment equipment: SoftPro Water Systems (softprowatersystems.com) and Quality Water Treatment (qualitywatertreatment.com).

A few well pages, such as those on softeners, filters and acidic water, link to equipment from those stores. Each of those links is marked on the page where it appears, and those pages explain what the equipment does not treat as well as what it does. The advice on every page comes first: test the water, then size any treatment to the lab result. Septic pages, city water pages and the pages on testing, arsenic and radon carry no store links.

Questions about a specific property belong with the county health department or a certified professional. For how this site handles visitor data, see the privacy page; for the limits on using what is written here, see the terms.