Dirt over riser lids, other riser questions

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Hello all,

Our septic tank riser comes just to the surface of our lawn, such that with a bit of regrading to raise the lawn surface -- we could trivially put a few inches of top soil and plant grass over the top of the riser lid.

Is this a particularly good or bad idea? It would actually reduce the probability of water getting into the riser, by encouraging more drainage away. We could of course also put a bit of a gasket under the lid to seal it against the riser, though I think that shouldn't be needed in our specific situation.

We don't mind digging the few inches to expose the lid for regular inspections and pumping, since it is way better than digging 3-4 feet to the actual tank surface.

From searching online I was not able to find good answers to this -- most searches returned general results about using risers to avoid burying your tank access, etc. However, I am specifically asking about covering the riser lid.
 
They are frequently buried. And, we frequently have a hard time finding them, particularly if they have a plastic lid, and don’t set off my locator wand. If you do bury it leave a picture somewhere showing the location, and distance to it from a couple of distinct places on the house.

I spent half a day looking for one that had been covered in dirt, and then had a patio built over it. The patio was in pictures of the house which were fourteen years old, so it took a while to fill the tank with solids.
 
I purposely set mine at grade, to make them easy to find. If you're really trying to pretend you don't have a septic tank, put very leafy potted plants on them.
 
I purposely set mine at grade, to make them easy to find. If you're really trying to pretend you don't have a septic tank, put very leafy potted plants on them.

The goal is less to hide them from view, and more to grade over them to further encourage surface runoff away from this area. Right now our riser comes up slightly below grade around it, encouraging surface water runoff into the riser and septic tank.

The alternative is to dig down to our tank and replace the riser with a taller one, but I am hoping to first try and remove this depression from our yard where the area has settled (which includes covering the riser lid)
 
you can buy an extension to set on top of what you have. But having the lid under dirt will be likely to let water in also. We use 18” culvert pipe for risers. Tell the pipe yard you want the female end measured and cut. A lawnmower wheel will go thru plastic lid. Eventually
 
James, i see you stated using 18" culvert pipe. I see 18 and 24" is commonly used. Why would 24" be used instead of 18"??
you can buy an extension to set on top of what you have. But having the lid under dirt will be likely to let water in also. We use 18” culvert pipe for risers. Tell the pipe yard you want the female end measured and cut. A lawnmower wheel will go thru plastic lid. Eventually
 

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