Secondcurve, when you say that the other systems on your street are failing, have any of your neighbors mentioned what the determining cause was?
The reason I ask is that there are a few different ways that a leach field can fail:
1. Pipe crush failure; stones will be black, as well as the soil just below the surface, grass may or may not be really green and thick. Driving a vehicle over the leach field, roots growing within the system.
2. Soil saturation; grass will be VERY green and top soil will seam soft all the time, may have a slight sewer smell when it rains or after heavy load. Mostly caused by runoff and poor soil drainage.
3. Bacteria death; system will back up frequently, problems with toilets. This can be caused by a number of things, but the big issues that cause it are washing latex paint down the drains, chemotherapy treatments, use of a garbage disposal and heavy use of dishwashers and washing machines. The first two reasons (I sincerely hope) are not the root cause of all the other failures but they do cause this, the second two are very common and in fact having a disposal system installed on a newly installed septic system is direct grounds for a voided warranty by the installer.
4. Inattention; failure due to not keeping up with pumping the system and checking the baffles within the tank. These prevent the surface scum from entering the leach field and blocking the system. Pumping the tank at a maximum of every four years and sooner the more people living at the house.
If you were a customer of mine, I would set up an inspection of the system and have the system pumped at the same time if it has been more than two years. Having the system inspected will give you an idea of what the condition is and whether you are moving toward a problem.
I know of a few companies that we work with that are really good to work with and can handle the entire process from pumping, inspecting, designing and replacing. My direct recommendation is Henniker Septic Service, if you end up having to replace the system it will come with a 15 year warranty (as long as you adhere to some of the things I listed above) and you will only have to work with one company for the entire process. He is a straight shooter, if you system is fine, he will tell you so, if it needs replacement, that too, if you just need to keep up with it, you will know that as well. I am not sure if he travels that far, but when I had him on a job two months ago he was slow and looking at other jobs that were well south of our location.
http://www.hennikerseptic.com/septic.html
As far as costs, here is what you are looking at, all I know is that your site is steep. But these are the determining factors for changes within the pricing for a replacement system.
Soil type (sand is better, ledge and organic is bad) basically the better your existing soil is the less material removed and replaced.
Access to site, this is not something that is done with a shovel and a wheel barrow, the smaller the equipment the more time needed to perform the work.
Depth of repair needed, simple remove and replace or full rework from the house out including design.
Inspection $200-400, figure on the high side and have everything checked in depth.
Pumping $170-500, depends on the size of the tank, 1000 gals on the small end, 1500 gal average, and multi's on the high end.
New design $1000-3500, depends on the type of system being installed.
Installation $6500-24,000, low end is flat, sandy soil, wide open access. Top is a system we installed on a rocky, steep slope (when looking into core samples during building design phase, a track core rig was out of the question due to slope, fall on your butt, steep) on Lake Sunapee, super complex system due to size of house load and how little space left to install system.
That will get you started, fill in the blanks as far as what type of situation you have, but do not wonder if you are sitting on a failing system, it is cheap money to find out. Obviosly we have just entered the time frame when inspection and replacement is very difficult and becomes more expensive to perform. Wait till spring and get a pump out and inspection. Road bans are usually off by the second week in May so mark mid to end of April on your calendar and do not let it pass by. Find out what caused your neighbors issues in the mean time.
Really sorry for the long post.