A system of perforated pipes buried in soil designed to distribute and absorb liquid, commonly used in septic systems and wastewater treatment.
Compound noun: 'drain' + 'field' (an area of land). This is a modern technical term that emerged with the development of septic systems and decentralized wastewater treatment in the 20th century.
The drainfield is an elegant low-tech solution to a very high-stakes problem—disposing of human waste safely. It works by using soil itself as a filter, relying on centuries-old knowledge that soil can purify water, combined with modern understanding of bacterial decomposition.
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