The Department of Natural Resources sent letters to some 700 unsewered towns, ordering them to stop discharging septic tank effluent into the state’s waterways and to come up with some sort of sanitary engineering. However, towns with properly installed and inspected onsite systems could be exempt. State code requires effluent filters in septic tanks and a secondary form of treatment.
Properties with insufficient space or inadequate soils may have to group together to provide multiple-home systems. Some grant money is available from USDA Rural Development. Cost projections are $2,500 to $5,000 to upgrade a working septic tank and about $7,500 to install a new system. The solution is cheaper than hiring a professional operator to run a community system with sewer mains and a lagoon.
Virginia
Residents in the Sleepy Creek watershed are eligible for a one-time $150 reimbursement to help pay for pumping their septic tanks. The Chesapeake Bay Program, West Virginia Tributary Strategy Implemen-tation Committee, West Virginia Conservation Agency, and Eastern Panhandle Soil Conservation District are offering the payments because the region has fecal coliform bacteria in its surface water.
The state Department of Health and Human Resources suggests an onsite system inspection every three years and a pump-out every three to five years. Funding is on a first come, first served basis. Call the Eastern Panhandle Soil Conservation District at 304/263-4376, ext. 117.
Illinois
The Department of Public Health withdrew its proposed amendments to the Private Sewage Disposal Code and reopened discussions with the regulatory industry and certified local health departments to incorporate legislative changes that have occurred since the proposed amendments were drafted.
The action allows the agency to bring alternative technology, subsurface drip irrigation, portable sanitation and NPDES requirements into compliance with state and federal laws.
Michigan
A proposed Senate bill would add onsite systems to the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act and become effective on Jan. 1, 2010. If passed, the amendment would require inspection of certain onsite systems every 10 years.
People already qualified to inspect conventional systems would be considered certified inspectors. Others would require Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) certification. Inspecting a conventional system would include pre-paring a report and submitting a copy to the system’s owner and local health department.
The legislation also would prohibit the installation of alternative systems that were not approved by the DEQ or did not have a permit from the local health department. It authorizes the DEQ to collaborate with organizations to develop educational materials on conventional system maintenance, and creates the On-Site Wastewater Treatment System Advisory Council and the Alternative System Technical Advisory Committee.
The Michigan Septic Tank Association suggested a standardized inspection process and pumping of tanks before inspection. The bill also would require local authorities who prohibit land application of septage to make a receiving facility available inside their boundaries. Legislation to create a state sanitary code is in the crafting stage.
Wisconsin
The Department of Revenue is auditing and taxing onsite installers retroactively for unpaid sales tax (or use tax) on landscaping services. The agency contends that final seeding and grading falls under the landscaping category, which is a taxable service.
For example, if the dirt, fine grading, seeding and mulching are 10 percent or less of the cost of the installation, and the contractor did not pay sales tax on them at the time of purchase, then the contractor owes back taxes. Contractors who can prove they paid the sales tax on the materials at the time of purchase do not owe additional tax.
Florida
Proposed changes to the state administrative code would allow someone besides a septage disposal company to measure and certify the tank after pump-out, and to verify the tank’s volume.
If the changes are passed, tank manufacturers would be allowed to install conduit ports in the lids at time of manufacture and provide a method for sealing unused ports. Tanks also would have to be installed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Additional changes require dosing pumps to meet incorporated standards, enabling drainfields in moderately limited soils to be dosed up to four times per day.
The revisions would require engineers to consider waste strength when designing alternative systems that treat more than 1,500 gpd. Other proposals include paying application permit fees before the Department of Health grants final system approval, and labeling alternative drainfield components and outlet filters with the manufacturer’s name and model number in a location visible to inspectors.
Missouri
If new regulations are enacted on April 30, onsite inspections for real estate purposes may include a microbiological test of private potable water wells, examinations of any visible portion of the water supply construction, and review of well-drilling reports. Inspectors renewing their licenses for the first time would need 20 hours of continuing education units. Those renewing their license for a second or subsequent times would need 12 hours.
Inspectors would need to notify property owners that they are not obligated to hire them for repair or re-inspections. A proposed amendment establishes requirements for percolation testers, soil evaluators, and onsite installers, and reduces the number of CEU hours necessary for license renewals.
Soil evaluators, percolation testers, and basic and advanced onsite installers renewing their registration for the first time would need 20 hours of CEUs. Soil evaluators and advanced installers renewing for a second or subsequent time would need 12 hours. Basic installers and percolation testers renewing for a second or subsequent time would need eight hours.
Washington
Beginning in April, all onsite designers and inspectors scheduled for licensing exams must pass a take-home law and ethics exam.
The state Department of Health completed the draft Onsite Sewage Tanks rule. The rule contains testing criteria to ensure that septic tanks are watertight and would require tank manufacturers to certify them as such. All tanks would have to be water- or vacuum-tested after installation to at least the invert of the outlet.
The rule would allow the DOH or the local health jurisdiction to require water-tightness testing 2 inches into the riser in sensitive areas, coarse soils or when the tank is used for advanced treatment. The State Board of Health is expected to adopt the rule by the end of 2009. A one-year phase-in would allow existing tanks to be used and approvals to be issued.
The department also is revising its Large Onsite Sewage System (LOSS) rule, which will probably become effective late this year. It would:
• Strengthen public health and environmental protections
• Provide more affordable options to small communities
• Expand treatment options and requirements
• Tighten operating and monitoring requirements
• Revise vertical separation, land area requirements, and existing design criteria
• Increase oversight of hundreds of large systems and require owners to upgrade substandard systems over time.
