Septic System Installation
New septic systems and full replacements, conventional and sand mound, installed to the approved design from the soil test pits to the final grading.
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Vernon Township covers about 68 square miles of ridge and valley in northern Sussex County. Highland Lakes started in the 1930s as a summer retreat for New York City families. Many of those cottages are full-time homes now, and a full-time house sends much more water underground. Older lake lots here show it as a soggy drainfield or a slow drain.
Sawkill Environmental is a septic and excavation contractor based in Milford, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles northwest of Vernon. We cross the Delaware and work Sussex County. Septic system installation is the main job here, from the soil test pits through the final grading. We also handle repairs on failing systems, excavation, stormwater drainage work and land clearing. Estimates are free, so call or text (973) 552-8580.
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Vernon's lake communities sit on the ridges above the valley. Highland Lakes, Barry Lakes, Lake Wanda, Lake Wallkill and Pleasant Valley Lake were laid out as vacation communities. The lots are small by rural standards. A well, a septic tank and an absorption area share the same ground, with room to spare from the lake.
Under that ground is the New Jersey Highlands, part of the Reading Prong. Wawayanda Mountain tops out at 1,470 feet, and the ridges are hard crystalline rock. Shallow rock and steep ground are what decide the kind of system that fits. Without four feet of good soil under the field, the design calls for a mounded system on fill.
We dig the soil test pits for the county evaluation and build to the engineer's approved plan. That covers the tank, the distribution box, the absorption area and the finish grading. On a wooded ridge lot the field area often has to be opened up first. That means clearing the trees and stumps before any new septic system installation starts.
The Vernon Valley runs between Wawayanda Mountain and Pochuck Mountain and is drained by Pochuck Creek. Glenwood sits out on that valley floor at about 560 feet, close to the New York line. The Wallkill valley here is cut into limestone and dolomite, and the Franklin Marble belt runs through Sussex County. McAfee was an iron and limestone mining spot before it was anything else.
Carbonate rock is where New Jersey's true sinkholes form, and Sussex is one of the main counties for them. That matters when you set a tank or open a trench. It also means rock turns up shallow and hard in places you would not expect. Rock is a normal part of digging here.
The floodplain between the two mountains is wet meadow, forest, seeps and limestone outcrop. The Appalachian Trail crosses it on the Pochuck boardwalk, a mile of decking over open wetland. Wawayanda Mountain catches more rain than anywhere else in New Jersey, over 54 inches in an average year. All that water shows up as a high seasonal water table, and the soil pits are where it gets measured.
New Jersey septic systems are built under N.J.A.C. 7:9A, the state standard for individual subsurface sewage disposal systems. Vernon Township used to run its own health department. Those services are now handled by the Sussex County Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health. Septic work goes through its Office of Environmental Health, which serves all 24 towns in the county.
The design itself is prepared and sealed by a New Jersey licensed professional engineer. The rule says the county or its authorized agent witnesses the soil profile pits and the permeability testing. The county can ask for up to 15 business days of notice before that. We dig those pits and have the site open when the witness arrives.
What the pits show decides the system. The rules want four feet of suitable soil or fill below the field. A conventional field sits one to three feet below the existing ground. Where depth runs short, the plan calls for a mounded field on fill, held to slopes under 10 percent.
Vernon does have public sewer, though it covers a narrow slice of the township. The Vernon Township Municipal Utilities Authority was created in 2011 and runs the system. The mapped service area follows Vernon Town Center, McAfee, the Mountain Creek resort area and stretches of Route 94. Most of the township sits outside it on private septic.
The township has been working with the state on widening that area. A 2024 authority presentation laid out eight expansion pieces adding roughly 150 connections. It named aging residential septic systems as one reason for the work. Until a line reaches a property, the septic system on it is the whole system.
Where the sewer line does exist, the lateral runs from the building out to the main. We handle sewer lateral replacement by open trench when one breaks or bellies. Anything we dig in New Jersey gets marked out through New Jersey One Call (811) first. Estimates are free, and the number is (973) 552-8580.
Communities and areas we serve around Vernon: Highland Lakes, Barry Lakes, Glenwood, McAfee, Vernon Valley, Great Gorge, Lake Wanda, Lake Wallkill, Cedar Ridge, Pleasant Valley Lake, Vernon Town Center, Wawayanda State Park.
Vernon ZIP codes served: 07462, 07422, 07418, 07428.
Free estimates throughout Sussex County and the surrounding area.
(973) 552-8580 New septic systems and full replacements, conventional and sand mound, installed to the approved design from the soil test pits to the final grading.
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Backups, wet ground over the drainfield and sewage odors mean a part of the system has failed. We dig it up, find the cause and repair or replace what quit working.
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We handle general excavation for homes and commercial sites around Milford: foundation and basement digs, footings, trenches and rock ledge. We run our own excavators and equipment, so the dig, the backfill and the compaction stay with one company.
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We install French drains, curtain drains, catch basins and culverts, and regrade wet ground. Exterior stormwater drainage for homes and commercial properties around Milford.
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We clear wooded lots and acreage for homesites, septic areas, roads and building pads. Trees, brush, stumps and ledge come out with excavators and leave the site.
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Site prep and grading for new homes, barns and commercial buildings around Milford. We build pads, cut and fill, place stone base and put in private roads and access lanes.
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We build block and boulder retaining walls that hold slopes, cuts and fills on hillside lots. Proper base, drainage stone and pipe behind the wall, then backfill and compaction.
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We repair and replace sewer laterals by open trench, from the building wall out to the sewer main. Broken, collapsed, root damaged and bellied lines come out, and new pipe goes in on a graded bed.
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We dig out contaminated soil after heating oil releases and spills. The material goes off to a permitted facility, then clean fill puts the site back.
Learn MoreReal reviews from real septic and excavation jobs on Google.
Great Service and workmanship I would use nobody else to service my grease and septic tanks
Top Notch & Very professional,showed up when was suppose to & it came out better then I could ever imagine… calling them anytime I need there services done
Returned phone calls immediately. Showed up when they said they would… very nice to deal with .. Excellent work
A few of the questions we hear most around Vernon. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us about the property and what you need done, and we will come back with a free estimate. You can also call or text (973) 552-8580.
Tell us about the job. We will get right back to you.