Septic soil in Putnam County, WV, by the numbers
Very limited
In Putnam County, WV, 93.7% of the surveyed land carries a "Very limited" rating for a standard septic drain field. 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. Putnam County, WV is 345.679 square miles with a population of 57,067.
What Putnam County's reading doesn't cover
USDA's survey covers the whole of Putnam County, WV 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 Putnam County will actually do.
What a system would cost here
With 93.7% of Putnam 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 Putnam County, WV compares
Nationally, Putnam County, WV is the 833-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within West Virginia alone it ranks 36 of 55.
Related guides
How this rating is built, and its real limits · Conventional vs. engineered septic systems