Need Help with Cesspool vs. Sewer

When we were looking at our house and purchased it a month ago, both the realtor and the previous owner said the house was on a sewer hookup. Well after we closed, we called the Suffolf County Sewer to change the account to our name and they told us they never had record of our house being connected to the sewer and we must have a cesspool!(or possibly an illegal sewer hookup). And we are the only ones on our block that aren't connected. This issue never came up on our survey or inspection. After calling the realtor again, she said that all the realtor listings going back years all stated sewer. This house is 50+ years old, I find it hard to believe that no previous owners would really investigate whether they had a sewer connection or cesspool. Is there any clear cut way I can know if we have a cesspool? I'm not sure what to do.

Re: Need Help with Cesspool vs. Sewer

Can you ask your realtor to contact the previous owners to see if they can get you a copy of a recent billing statement?

Re: Need Help with Cesspool vs. Sewer

If you have a cesspool, it will more than likely be located in your front lawn. Do you see any caps (white or other color) that is in the ground?

Re: Need Help with Cesspool vs. Sewer

A cesspool can be located anywhere. You would not be able to determine its location without knowing if you had one or not. A cesspool or sewer company can run a simple "smoke test" to see if you are on sewer or cesspool. I used to do that all the time for companies I worked with when I did engineering FT.

Re: Need Help with Cesspool vs. Sewer

the owners had to have known that they had a cesspool

i would call in someone ASAP because if for some stupid reason the previous owners thought they had a sewer, that means they probably didnt maintian the cesspool

Re: Need Help with Cesspool vs. Sewer

I would think you have to call a sewer/cesspool company to find out.