Septic soil in Pierce County, ND, by the numbers

Very limited

50.6% of Pierce 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. Practically, that rules out a simple gravity system for most of the county - 50.6% of it sits in USDA's most-constrained bucket. Pierce County, ND is 1,018.285 square miles with a population of 3,853.

What Pierce County's reading doesn't cover

Nothing about Pierce County, ND's SSURGO figure applies to a specific address - it's a county-wide average. A local percolation test, typically $750-$1,850 (around $1,300 typical), is the only way to know what one lot in Pierce County will actually do.

What a system would cost here

With 50.6% of Pierce 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.

Pierce County's rank among North Dakota counties

Nationally, Pierce County, ND is the 2,871-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within North Dakota alone it ranks 43 of 53.

Before you act on this

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