Cesspools: Aging systems like 'time bombs' that could be costly, or deadly

With blue-gloved hands, cesspool professional Salvatore Motta fed an endoscopic camera through the basement house trap of a ranch-style home in Smithtown.

The cesspool appeared original to the house, maybe built of block, he said — the kind he would liken to "little time bombs in the ground."

To licensed real estate salesperson Monique Serena, a Woodbury-based agent for Keller Williams Points North, an inspection like this is the reason she insists prospective homebuyers have cesspools scoped before signing contracts. Cesspool and septic systems are not part of a standard home inspection, she said — and if overlooked, the stakes are high.

A cesspool on the edge of collapse is a safety risk to anyone on the property. A fall into a collapsed cesspool can be fatal, whether because of physical injury or the emission of harmful gases. 

In the Smithtown case, Motta saw a problem he later estimated would cost the owners thousands. Having snaked 57 feet into the pipe, Motta watched real-time footage on an iPhone screen. The pipe was made of outdated orangeburg, a composite of tar and wood pulp. A root system that looked like the skeleton of a fish appeared on screen.

"You got like a forest in there," Motta said, as he pulled back to reveal roots growing through the cesspool system. He recommended replacing the system.

The cost of cesspool inspection, repair and replacement varies, but Motta frames it this way: a $400 cesspool inspection could help a homebuyer evade a $20,000 job.

'Old school' cesspools can be dangerous

They're known to collapse, break, fall apart, literally out of nowhere.

— Salvatore Motta, founder and CEO of Quick Drain

Homes built before 1972 are at the greatest risk of having a cesspool that will collapse or experience "major issues," said Motta, 25, founder and CEO of Melville-based Quick Drain. Those houses were built with "the old school systems" — block cesspools connected to the home with piping made of old roofing paper, terra cotta, asbestos or cast iron, he said.

"They're known to collapse, break, fall apart, literally out of nowhere," Motta said. "You could be standing over it; it'll fall down. You could be mowing your lawn." 

Roots can grow through some of the older piping materials. Metal cast iron pipe "rots out, cracks and crushes," Motta said. In some severe cases, an individual falls into the cesspool as it collapses.

"You just never know what's going to go wrong," Motta said.

When Motta scopes an older system, he tells the homeowner or prospective buyer to stay away from the area. If a prospective buyer plans to make the purchase without replacing the system, he gives them a quote to replace it when they can.

The ramifications of a collapsed cesspool span the spectrum of severity. In some cases, even routine lawn maintenance over a cesspool can result in injury or fatality. In 2020, Newsday reported an 88-year-old man using a weed whacker in his backyard fell into the sink hole created by a cesspool collapse. He was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and survived, Newsday reported at the time.

Cost to replace a cesspool depends on severity

At the Smithtown home, Motta used sonar to determine the cesspool's location: underneath the concrete patio surrounding the kidney-shaped pool.

"The outcome will be figuring out where the new one should go, how much demo and cost it will be, and whether that should remain in the back of the property, or potentially be replumbed and relocated to the front," Serena said following the scope. The Smithtown homeowners, who allowed Motta to scope the cesspool as a demonstration for Newsday, declined to comment.

Motta said he gave the homeowners a quote of $15,000 for the project.

The urgency of the situation depends on the specifics, but Motta and Serena advise prospective homebuyers to be proactive and make a cesspool inspection part of their own standard process while shopping for homes. The specialized inspection is minimally intrusive, Motta said.

When Pamela Gordon-Sintef, 40, and her husband, Arthur Sintef III, 45, moved into their Huntington Station high ranch nearly a decade ago, they had the cesspool level checked. The previous owners had it pumped, Gordon-Sintef said, so the first-time homebuyers had no further questions about the system.

This July, Serena, who sold them the home before cesspool inspection was a part of her process, asked the couple if Sal Motta could scope their cesspool as a demonstration for Newsday.

"I kind of watched as he did it," said Gordon-Sintef, who works for a wholesale hardware company. "With some of the other features of the home and the way I saw that things were done, I can't say I was surprised."

Motta found what he deduced was an original cesspool with an orangeburg pipe.

"We're concluding to say that the pipe is collapsing, and the cesspool's in very bad shape," Motta said after the scope.

The last thing you want is to come home to a problem and the problem is quite a stinky problem. Because then, you'll end up getting hit with even more financial burden.

— Pamela Gordon-Sintef, of Huntington Station

The solve would be a full replacement of the septic system to bring it up to code, Motta said. Motta estimated the project would cost $15,000, Gordon-Sintef said. Motta told her the work could wait about six to nine months as she moves money around and researches available grants, she said. The $15,000 figure would include digging up flooring, but not replacing it, she said.

In hindsight, Gordon-Sintef said she would have done three specialized inspections during the home-buying process: an electrical inspection, a thorough inspection of the plumbing and a foundation inspection.

"Once you make that offer and you start to do inspections, then the responsibility should now lie upon yourself," she said. "Fork over the money; it's better to pay now than pay later, and then you can use it as a negotiation tactic at the table."

While she was initially upset about the cost of the project, she said she was relieved to know what needed to be done — and to know about it now.

"The last thing you want is to come home to a problem and the problem is quite a stinky problem," she said. "Because then, you'll end up getting hit with even more financial burden."

Replacing cesspools

Cesspool installation once involved hand-digging a hole, arranging stacks of bricks in a circular formation underground and putting a lid over it, Motta said.

"Waste water drained into that pit, and it drained into the ground," he said. "Nowadays everything's prefabricated, so we have a septic tank, which then leads to an overflow cesspool."

The installation of a cesspool in new construction in Suffolk County has been illegal since 1973, according to a 2018 news release by the Suffolk County Executive's office. The 2018 release announced then-County Executive Steve Bellone had signed legislation to outlaw the replacement of an existing cesspool with a new one.

Today's septic tanks, which are required in new builds and replacement situations instead of cesspools, are reinforced concrete with standardized lids that lock, Motta said. These tanks should be cleaned every three to five years, he said.

A homeowner should know what type of system they have, the location of it and of related documentation, the age of the system, the materials used, maintenance requirements and replacement cost, Motta said.

The median build year of an American home is 1981, according to 2023 data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. In Suffolk County, median build year is 1970; in Nassau, 1955.

In 2019, a Suffolk County press release reported an estimated 360,000 "residential onsite sewage disposal systems," about 250,000 of them being cesspools. At the time, 75% of the county was not on the sewer system, according to the release. 

The cost of cesspool replacement varies depending on the situation and the servicer. Even a repair can cost several thousand dollars, Motta said.

In July, Newsday reported Gov. Kathy Hochul had signed a bill to offer financial assistance for New York State homeowners to upgrade their septic systems. Of $30 million in grants, $20 million of funding was allocated for Suffolk County, according to a July 23 news release by the governor's office.

The state grants represent an effort "to modernize aging water and sewer systems," according to the release. The grants were "awarded by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation, in coordination with the Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation," the release reports.

According to the release, the legislation would offer qualifying homeowners installing a conventional system 50% reimbursement of "eligible costs up to $10,000," and those installing an enhanced septic system with "up to 75% of eligible costs up to $25,000."

Maintain cesspools before it's too late

Sal Motta's cousin, John Motta, is also in the cesspool business. John, 22, owns and operates the Greenlawn-based Local Cesspool Sewer and Drain, and Lee Hubbard Cesspool Sewer and Drain.

In addition to the location of the system, John said, it is important that a prospective homebuyer knows whether the cesspool system has been serviced before.

John Motta recommended cesspools be pumped

Every 3 to 5 years

when used by a family of two, and 

Every 2 to 4 years

for a family of four.

But ultimately, it depends on the size and how it's used.

How often a cesspool should be serviced depends on its size and how the homeowner is using it. The general advice is to have a cesspool pumped every three to five years, John said; but he recommends a family of four service the cesspool every two to four years. A family of two can use the three-to-five-year estimate, he said.

"Cesspools are the most overlooked thing when buying a home," John said.

He attributed this to two unfortunate realities: a cesspool is out of sight, and "the thought of human waste" is unappealing.

In June, John said he had serviced several cesspools on properties with new owners. For each client, he said, the cesspool backup happened within a week of move-in.

On the lower end of the price range, John estimated a cesspool replacement could cost $10,000. He charges $275 for a cesspool inspection, he said.

After a home purchase, a homeowner can take precautions to maintain the cesspool before issues arise.

"Just because you're not having a problem doesn't mean you're not going to have one," he said.

John compares cesspool upkeep to car maintenance.

... You can't wait until it's too late, because when it's too late, then it's catastrophic.

— John Motta, owner of Local Cesspool Sewer and Drain and Lee Hubbard Cesspool Sewer and Drain

"You need an oil change, whether it's at every 3,000 or every 5,000 [miles]," he said. "But you can't wait until it's too late, because when it's too late, then it's catastrophic."

To John, "catastrophic" can mean any amount of water in the house or backing up into the shower. 

"When it's too late, when you wait for the very last second, nine times out of ten you'll have a flood in the house," he said. 

In addition to having the cesspool serviced regularly, a homeowner should choose household products carefully, he said.

"Just because something says 'flushable' doesn't mean it is, and just because something says 'septic safe' doesn't mean it is," John said. "I cannot stress that enough." 

At a job in June, John said, it took longer to snake the pipe than it did to drive to the house and do the work. This was, in part, because of the volume of tampons flushed down the toilet, he said. 

Items that should not be flushed include feminine products, which expand, he said; and not all toilet paper is created equal. When homeowners wonder why they have to call him every few months, John said he pleads with them to switch toilet paper brands.

"Just because it's four-ply and it feels good," John said, "Doesn't mean it feels good in the septic system."