A Virginia law requiring mandatory maintenance for all alternative onsite systems goes into effect July 1, 2009. According to K.R. “Trapper” Davis of Coastal Plains Environmental Group in New Kent, alternative technologies include aerobic treatment units, peat biofilters, and soil-based systems such as drip dispersal, low-pressure pipe or mounds used with septic tank effluent.
On that date, certified maintenance operators, installers, soil evaluators, and designers must be licensed by passing a test and showing experience. Licensed evaluators and designers may design systems of up to 1,000 gpd for single-family homes. Any-thing beyond that requires an engineer stamp. The Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation recognizes that engineers typically do not have the education and experience to perform soil and site evaluations, and must therefore be licensed evaluators, too.
Davis says installers can no longer operate with a company business or contractor’s license after the effective date. The project supervisor must be a licensed conventional or alternative onsite sewage system Installer. Operation and maintenance technicians will have to pass an approved training course and exam, and show documentation of experience to qualify for an alternative onsite sewage system operator’s license.
Even holders of wastewater operator licenses to run large plants do not automatically qualify. Onsite systems greater than 10,000 gpd will require a licensed wastewater operator with an alternative onsite sewage system operator license.
Florida
Officials in Charlotte County say aging septic systems have polluted a beach and are causing ground contamination. County Health Department administrator Herman Velasco told a local TV station that many of the septic systems in Port Charlotte are more than 25 years old and his agency is finding corroded lids and outlets that allow septage to get into the soil, groundwater, and a canal that runs through the area into the ocean. The Port Charlotte Beach Complex was closed to swimmers June 12 to July 1 due to contamination.
A program to service and inspect septic systems began in August 2007 after an order from the Florida Department of Health. The Managed Septic Systems program must continue until all residences are hooked up to a sanitary sewer system, according to the County Health Department Web site. The county’s ordinance requires an operating permit every five years at a cost of $115, including proof of a pump-out as well as verification of tank integrity and inspection by the county.
IDAHO
The Department of Environ-mental Quality has been holding hearings on a proposed change to the method of estimating wastewater flow from single-family homes and how soils are classified. The final proposal was expected in October or November with an effective date of July 1, 2009.
The agency says the revisions are needed to make regulations consistent with domestic water use in the state. Increased flow estimates will require an increase in the minimum size for a standard drainfield. Changing the soil classification from three soil types to six will allow more precise sizing of drainfields. The new regulations will also add definitions of the terms “bedroom” and “module.” View the proposed rule online at www.deq.idaho. gov/rules/subsurface/58_0103_ 0801_proposed_rule.pdf.
Maine
The Department of Health and Human Services is expecting draft changes to the Subsurface Wastewater Rules, perhaps by the end of 2008. A task force has been meeting for about two years. The task force of site evaluators, plumbing inspectors, installers, inspectors and representatives of regulatory agencies and equipment suppliers published several position papers that have been distributed for review and comment.
If all goes according to schedule, the new rules are expected to be effective April 1, 2009, after public hearings and a public comment period.
Maryland
The Department of Environ-ment is still offering grants to cover most of the cost to upgrade septic systems through the Bay Restoration Fund. The grants fund the purchase, engineering, installation, inspection, and electrical connection costs, and the first five years of an operation and maintenance contract.
According to the grant application, the property owner pays for all other sewage disposal system costs, including conventional tank, distribution network, or effluent dispersal method replacements encountered or required by the local authority.
The grant has been available since 2005 for individual septic systems, small and large multiple residential units, and small and large commercial systems. The department says 20 percent of property owners in Maryland use septic systems. The grant program is part of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act. A $30 annual septic tank fee provides the funds to upgrade about 600 systems every year.
