Garden County, NE's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

82.4% of Garden County, NE'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 - 82.4% of Garden County lands in the strictest "very limited" bucket USDA uses. Garden County covers 1,704.826 square miles and counts 1,804 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Two lots a mile apart in Garden County can carry different soil, even though they share one countywide rating. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Garden County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Garden 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.

Garden County's rank among Nebraska counties

Nationally, Garden County, NE is the 1,903-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within Nebraska alone it ranks 41 of 93.

Before you act on this

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