Is i've got a tree growing over my septic field an emergency?
Not urgent. A drain field is a warm, wet, nutrient-rich zone a foot or two underground, which is the best habitat available to a root system. Roots do not break into sound pipe out of aggression — they follow moisture vapor to a joint or a hairline crack, push a fine root through, then thicken it. Once inside, the mass grows in the flow and blocks it. The failure being described is therefore a plumbing failure caused by a tree, which means it gets judged on the septic system's terms rather than on the tree's.
What changes while you wait
Years, quietly, and then all at once. Nothing here becomes dangerous in the tree sense — a tree over a drain field is not a falling hazard because of the drain field. What changes while you wait is money: the gap between removing a tree and repairing a field, versus removing a tree and replacing an entire system, and a failed field is among the more expensive repairs a house can present. If the property is going on the market, a failing field stops being a maintenance item and becomes a closing problem.
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