Septic soil in Hand County, SD, by the numbers

Very limited

Soil across 92.5% of Hand County, SD rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. A standard gravity system routinely fails on ground like this; the same share of the county falls in USDA's worst absorption-field bucket outright. Hand County, SD is 1,436.633 square miles with a population of 3,097.

What Hand County's reading doesn't cover

USDA's survey covers the whole of Hand County, SD at once, not any single address. A local percolation test, typically $750-$1,850 (around $1,300 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Hand County will actually do.

What a system would cost here

With 92.5% of Hand County rating "Very limited", a standard gravity system is not a safe assumption here. 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.

Hand County's rank among South Dakota counties

Nationally, Hand County, SD is the 985-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within South Dakota alone it ranks 16 of 66.

Before you act on this

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