Butler County, KS's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

96.7% of Butler County, KS's surveyed soil comes back "Very limited" in USDA's own SSURGO data, the county's dominant condition for a septic absorption field. That reading means a conventional system is a poor bet here - 96.7% of Butler County lands in the strictest "very limited" bucket USDA uses. Butler County covers 1,429.716 square miles and counts 69,158 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Nothing about Butler County, KS's SSURGO figure applies to a specific address - it's a county-wide average. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Butler County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Butler County's rating, plan for the engineered-system range rather than the conventional one. The engineered-system range, $10,000-$40,000 (mound or aerobic treatment), is the more realistic number to plan around, against $3,000-$8,000 for a conventional system on the rare lot that passes.

Butler County's rank among Kansas counties

Nationally, Butler County, KS is the 413-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Kansas alone it ranks 29 of 105.

Related guides

How this rating is built, and its real limits · Conventional vs. engineered septic systems