Septic soil in McHenry County, ND, by the numbers

Very limited

77% of McHenry County, ND'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 - 77% of McHenry County lands in the strictest "very limited" bucket USDA uses. McHenry County, ND is 1,873.942 square miles with a population of 5,135.

What McHenry County's reading doesn't cover

McHenry County's rating is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. A local percolation test, typically $750-$1,850 (around $1,300 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in McHenry County will actually do.

What a system would cost here

With 77% of McHenry 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.

How McHenry County, ND compares

Nationally, McHenry County, ND is the 2,177-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within North Dakota alone it ranks 23 of 53.

Before you act on this

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