Could a saturated drain field cause a toilet to back up?

Question

My drain field is over saturated from excessive rain, but before I figured that out, I replaced the wax ring on one toilet due to leakage from the bottom. I also had to replace the flange and build up the flooring next to the pipe as it seemed to be deteriorated (gone).

I was having no issues with the second toilet. I had not flushed the toilets or run any water in the house for a week, and flushed the toilet that I had replaced the ring, heard gurgling in the shower, but water seeped out from the bottom of the second toilet.

I called a Septic Pumping company, explained the yard has excessive water in it, that I just recently had the septic tanks pumped and asked if that would alleviate the issues. To which they told me no, that I would have to wait until the yard dried out.

Will I have to replace the ring on the second toilet? Could there be issues with the existing drain field, which I assume is 32 years old as the house was built in 1982? I did not have any issues with drains or toilets flushing prior to the rains.

Answer 1

As to backups into the sewage system, yes, a saturated drain field could cause that, no place for the grey-water to go.

Check around the inspection hole on the septic tank, should be a lot of leakage if that's the case as the tank will be full with no airspace if it has clogged outflow.

Excessive rain and drowned drainfields is a common wintertime issue here in Western Oregon. It's one reason our local city boundaries got massively redrawn to include a large area of the valley into the sewer district as the high water table and precipitation meant surface water was a health hazard.