Onsite System Prices Slashed; Still No Takers

In a sensitive South Carolina watershed area, the government can’t seem to give away sizable grants aimed at helping homeowners repair their failing septic systems.

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How do you persuade people to care about the environmental impact of their failing septic systems when they turn down offers to replace them for free or at a greatly reduced cost?

That’s exactly what’s happening in part of South Carolina, where homeowners are eligible for federal money to cover 60 percent of onsite system repair or replacement, a figure that jumps to 100 percent with additional grants covering low-income residents.

The Greenville County Soil and Water Conservation District, administering Federal Clean Water Act grants in the Middle Saluda Watershed, has only been able to convince two homeowners to take the money over the past year. There are funds to fix about 60 systems, but homeowners with failing systems have resisted making repairs, according to Kirsten Robertson, the district manager.

The Saluda River is one of more than 1,000 polluted waterways in South Carolina targeted for cleanup by the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Of the 1 million septic systems in South Carolina, the EPA estimates that 10 percent fail in any year. Systems in the watershed are antiquated and neglected and fixing or replacing them would make a big difference in water quality in the region.

YOU CAN’T MAKE ME

So why the resistance to long-overdue onsite improvements? The answer is plain and simple to onsite professionals in the area: People just don’t care and they see the program as a government intrusion.

“We try our best to disseminate the information, but a lot of these old country folks don’t want the government involved in their lives, regardless of if it helps them 60 percent or 100 percent. I’ve been told that several times,’’ says David Reid, a repair and installation technician for Upstate Septic, in Greer, S.C., the company contracted to assess systems for the conservation district.

Reid finds all sorts of failures in the sensitive watershed, routinely encountering backyard ponding of sewage or backups in the home indicating drainfields that were built to bare-minimum standards and have reached the end of their useful life. And just like many homeowners ignore recommendations to inspect and pump systems, they refuse to replace drainfields or upgrade systems to make them function better for the long term … because they’re not required to.

South Carolina, like Florida to its south, doesn’t have a statewide requirement for periodic maintenance, inspection or pumping of onsite systems. When systems ultimately fail, it’s up to the homeowner to decide what to do about it.

“We pump some tanks that have never been pumped from the day they were installed, and they’re 20 to 30 years old,’’ Reid says. “The bottom of the outlet baffle is backed up with sludge and there’s nothing left but for suspended solids to go from the baffle to the drainfield.’’

Lack of maintenance is a driver of the failures, Reid says. But better oversight of installers who put in substandard gravel pits for drainfields and an improved system for the state to accept newer onsite technologies would be steps in the right direction.

Often, developers stretch the onsite system capacity limits by putting four- and five-bedroom houses on half-acre lots that don’t always have the best site conditions. Also, regulations favor traditional gravity systems and make it costly for homeowners to explore alternative treatment systems. And the state doesn’t require two-compartment septic tanks or effluent filters, setting drainfields up for early failure, Reid explains.

EMERGENCY SERVICE

Because of all of these factors, onsite professionals are almost always working in a crisis mode with customers. For Upstate and its sister companies, Dr. Flush Inc. and Pumping Service Inc., 80 percent of service calls are for emergencies, while only about 20 percent of customers choose to be on a routine pumping schedule, says Ken Howard, the owner of the three companies.

“The mindset of a lot of people is that you don’t ever have to [inspect the system]. That waste goes away and the septic tank will take care of it forever,’’ Howard says. He shares an example of a customer who had lived in his house for 52 years without having the system inspected. Howard spent more than two hours freeing up the sludge. “It was pure black crud. I didn’t make any money on that one,’’ he recalls.

Both onsite professionals would like to see a minimum pumping standard of every 3 to 5 years imposed for residential systems, but they don’t hold out much hope of that happening. Howard’s companies provide a lot of grease trap service, which is subject to mandated maintenance intervals, so he wonders why similar rules don’t apply to septic systems.

“I’m not a big-government man – the less government the better for me – but it would be nice if there were some regulations that people have to maintain them,’’ Howard says. Ultimately, routine pumping would help homeowners avoid major drainfield repair bills, but customers have proven they won’t pursue preventive maintenance if it’s not required, he says.

While the government isn’t legislating onsite maintenance, Howard is seeing the private sector is driving maintenance to a degree. He gets a lot of business from mortgage bankers and real estate professionals who order inspections before approving loans or allowing home sales to go through.

BETTER PROMOTION

Despite an inability to disburse the EPA funds for onsite upgrades, Robertson remains optimistic that her agency can convince more homeowners about the value of fixing their systems and doing their part to help the environment along the river. She’s changing the approach to outreach with more face-to-face meetings in, of all places, rural churches.

“We’re redoubling our efforts. It works best to get out and talk to people. Sending out flyers isn’t going to do it,’’ she says. The people they need to reach are often older, have older onsite systems and limited income to fix them. “The church is their meeting place. It’s home to them, and so it’s a good place to meet people with older systems.’’

I wish I shared Robertson’s optimism. But I’ve heard countless onsite installers tell me that, to homeowners, the septic system is “out of sight and out of mind.’’ Short of minimum required pumping or inspection intervals, as long as the toilet flushes the waste away, sadly, most people don’t want to think about where it goes.

And sadder still, in a place as beautiful as the hill country of South Carolina, the rivers are pretty to look at, but you better not go swimming. 



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