The Ontario, Canada, Ministry of the Environment is enforcing the use of a Municipality Responsibility Agreement, which stops the development or expansion of communal systems greater than 2,500 gpd if an agreement isn’t in place. The MRA provisions state that if a large onsite system fails, the nearby municipality agrees to take over treatment.
The ministry also halted expansions where municipalities wouldn’t enter into the agreements due to their open-ended cost and liability to the cities. In other cases, the ministry didn’t approve projects after municipalities declined entering into the agreements with property owners requesting a Certificate of Approval for onsite systems.
According to the Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services, the industry can be a significant problem-solver if it participates in the debate with the Ontario Association of Municipalities. Failure to do so could relegate the onsite industry to systems covered only under the Ontario Building Code, leaving wastewater treatment options for developers and existing sites considering expansion restricted to city sewers.
Wisconsin
The state Legislature adopted code changes to clarify onsite component review fees, allow onsite systems on properties occupied no more than 120 days per year to be inspected or pumped less frequently and require government agencies to submit code revisions to the Department of Commerce 30 days before the first scheduled public hearing.
The changes also give the commerce department the power to overrule jurisdictions challenging the interpretation of the code and government agencies denying onsite permits if the applications meet code requirements. The revisions state that the code dictates what happens when an approved onsite plan is modified, and that counties must inventory all onsite systems within three years and have a maintenance-reporting program in five years. These revisions were to be effective in late 2008.
Indiana
The state Environmental Health Association-Wastewater Management Committee proposed revisions of the onsite sewage disposal rule. According to Gary Chapple, pollution control director, Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health, the code included areas that conflicted with accepted industry practices and could void the warranty on new septic tanks.
Revisions include defining a bedroom, rewriting the elevated sand mounds section to comply with industry standards, requiring effluent filters, allowing drops in house sewers, reducing the dispersal area for systems with perimeter drains, and changing the loading rate table to correct an error.
The proposed changes are at www.iehaind.org/minutes/iehawwmc.pdf.
Pennsylvania
A bill referred to the Committee on Environmental Resources and Energy would make applying human biosolids as fertilizer during agricultural operations a misdemeanor offense. Penalties range from $10,000 for the first violation to $20,000 and 30 days in jail for the third and subsequent violations. The infraction would apply to both individuals and corporations.
