Sargent County, ND's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

86.3% of Sargent 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 - 86.3% of it sits in USDA's most-constrained bucket. Sargent County covers 858.491 square miles and counts 3,710 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

USDA's survey covers the whole of Sargent County, ND at once, not any single address. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Sargent County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Sargent County's rating, plan for the engineered-system range rather than the conventional one. 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.

Sargent County's rank among North Dakota counties

Nationally, Sargent County, ND is the 1,594-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within North Dakota alone it ranks 7 of 53.

Before you act on this

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