Wood County, WV's soil, for a septic absorption field

Very limited

Soil across 92.3% of Wood County, WV rates "Very limited" in USDA's septic-absorption-field interpretation. That reading means a conventional system is a poor bet here - 92.3% of Wood County lands in the strictest "very limited" bucket USDA uses. Wood County covers 366.5 square miles and counts 82,757 residents.

This is a county figure, not a parcel figure

Wood County's rating is an average across the whole county, not a promise about any one lot inside it. A site-specific perc test, usually $750-$1,850, is what a health department will actually require before permitting a lot in Wood County.

System cost, conventional vs. engineered

Given Wood 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.

Wood County's rank among West Virginia counties

Nationally, Wood County, WV is the 999-most-constrained of 3,058 rated counties for septic soil. Within West Virginia alone it ranks 46 of 55.

Before you act on this

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