Lewis County, NY: the USDA septic-suitability picture

Very limited

USDA puts Lewis County, NY at "Very limited" for septic absorption fields, the dominant reading across 92.4% of the county's soil. Practically, that rules out a simple gravity system for most of the county - 92.4% of it sits in USDA's most-constrained bucket. For scale: 1,276.309 square miles and 26,570 people call Lewis County home.

Before you rely on this for one lot

Nothing about Lewis County, NY's SSURGO figure applies to a specific address - it's a county-wide average. The real answer for one lot is still a site-specific perc test, running about $750-$1,850 (typically near $1,300).

Budgeting for a system in Lewis County, NY

Lewis County's soil reading pushes the likely outcome toward an engineered system rather than a conventional one. Conventional systems run $3,000-$8,000 where they pass; where they don't, engineered alternatives (mound or aerobic treatment, whichever the health department requires) run $10,000-$40,000 - budget toward the higher figure until a perc test says otherwise.

How Lewis County, NY compares

Among the 3,058 rated counties on this site, Lewis County, NY ranks 987 most-constrained nationally, and 23 of 61 within New York.

Related guides

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