John -- Yes, the existing septic system is uphill from this facility. We're pumping up to an existing 2-chamber tank (I'm assuming, based on the outline*, that its a standard 1,000 gallon tank). The existing system is designed for 4 people, two bathrooms. Our house only has one bathroom and one bedroom. So we're essentially completing the original system. As the apartment is not intended for full-time occupation, merely occasional guests, even if we have 4 people in there, plus an RV dumping into the system, we're not likely to have problems... as long as guests don't introduce any unauthorized items into the system... Judging by what I say when we opened the hatch on the tank, the system is currently working optimally. Having worked for Pat on many septic repairs over the last few years, I know what a failed/failing system looks like and I didn't see that so I'm assuming that if it doesn't look like that then it must be "good."
* Irma Bombeck obviously didn't know anything about septic systems when she titled her book "The grass is always greener over the septic tank." Because the concrete of the tank tends to draw moisture from the soil, the brownish patch of drier grass is a dead giveaway as to the spetic tank's location. I've found quite a few septic tanks just by looking for the brown rectangle in the lawn.
