We moved in to our house a couple years ago and were not told too much about a pipe that sticks out of our backyard.
We are on a septic system and this pipe is sticking out from our leech field. The other houses on our block all have similar setups yet none (that I know) have a pipe coming up like ours.
It was suggested to me that this may be safe to remove, or at least remove, cover the whole for a few weeks, and as long as there's no issues, then remove.
It's not attached to anything and I can pretty easily pull it out and put it back in, although I've tended not to touch it much.
Pipe: https://imgur.com/a/yrd6pYN Hole in the ground: https://imgur.com/a/NMXurUH
Can anyone provide any insight here please?
I'd take a trip to the local septic permitting agency and see if I could get copies of the permit and approved septic system design/as-built site plans. The inspector will probably be able to tell you if you need it or not.
It might be a vent for the leach field although that's not common where I'm from. I guess it could also be a marker for a distribution box or some other system component.
Getting the city involved will end up being very expensive.
Not necessarily. Getting copies and talking to someone at the counter usually doesn't cost anything.
Bringing problems to their attention becomes expensive, that's my point. Now you have to deal with the "official" way to fix it, as opposed to the way you can afford.
Sure, that can happen if there actually is a problem. But, I'm failing to see a problem here that could become expensive. This person has a functional septic system and they're trying to find out what this pipe is and whether it's important for the function of their system. Getting plans and talking to city/county staff is pretty routine for stuff like this.