Septic companies in Chico, CA

What the ground in Chico is like

The USDA soil survey rates mapped ground in Chico for septic drain-field suitability across roughly 35 square miles. About 86% of the rated ground is classed "Very limited", meaning the soil has one or more features unfavorable for a conventional drain field, and the limits generally cannot be overcome without major soil reclamation, special design or expensive installation.

In Chico, the leading limit is depth to the saturated zone: the water table sits so close to the surface that a drain field has little dry soil left underneath it. Effluent needs unsaturated ground to treat and disperse; when that column is thin, the field has nowhere safe to go. The survey flags that limit on about 48% of the rated ground here.

The limiting features the survey records most often here:

• Depth to saturated zone47.8%
• Slow water movement42.4%
• Flooding38.4%
• Seepage, bottom layer31.6%

This is survey data for mapped areas, not a substitute for a site evaluation on your own lot. Conditions on a single parcel can differ from the map.

USDA NRCS SSURGO, ENG Septic Tank Absorption Fields · 86% Very limited · Depth to saturated zone · 47 map units · 34.56 sq mi · read 2026-08-30