# Washing soda and the septic tank



## zane (Jan 21, 2004)

I am afriad to have an answer to this question. I have trouble with our wash routine, but am using the washing soda and simple green thing now. Like it even for our regular laundry. BUT then as I am reading the box - wear gloves! - started to wonder if I am killing off the happy bacteria in our septic tank. I use about 1/3c of washing soda per load. Any thoughts?


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## 3 Little Monkeys (Mar 13, 2003)

we have a septic tank so I'm curious about this as well. We use simple green on things though and it doesn't seem to be hurting the balance of the septic system


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## BrendaW (Jan 10, 2006)

They direct you to wear gloves because the pH is 11, which is pretty alkaline. If you used it with your bare hands a lot, would probably bother them and turn them red (it's where our grandmothers' dishpan hands came from). Not because it's "harmful", but because the pH is a bit more caustic than plain baking soda.

If you look at the ingredients of powdered detergents on the market, they are made mostly of washing soda (soda ash or sodium carbonate is the way it might be listed), so you've probably already used lots of washing soda in your septic system for years.


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