Maryland’s “flush tax” could be used to fill a hole in the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund. Passed in 2004, the Bay Restoration Fee charges each household and septic system $30 a year to help improve water quality in the Bay. An increase to $54 is one option being considered by the advisory committee as a recommendation to the legislature. The fund has a shortfall of $660 million.
Other options under consideration include reducing the amount of state funding used to upgrade local wastewater treatment systems, doubling the length of terms of bonds to 30 years, eliminating operating grants for wastewater systems, or delaying or eliminating some projects. The program to upgrade septic systems to remove nitrogen has already been scaled back. After upgrading about 2,000 systems, the Department of Environment is prioritizing funding requests to upgrade those that pose the greatest threat to clean water.
Arizona
The state Department of Environmental Quality issued a $550,000 grant to Lake Havasu City to abandon 3,100 residential septic tanks and hook homes up to the city’s wastewater system. The tanks will be pumped, cleaned, and then crushed. Debris will either be hauled away for disposal or used as backfill. Lake Havasu officials say the city had 28,000 septic tanks when they were banned within a mile of four monitoring wells in 1996. Since then, about 17,000 septic systems have been abandoned.
Michigan
About $209,000 in state grant money will go to finding and fixing failed septic systems in the Huron River watershed. It is part of $3.9 million in water quality grants issued in August by the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Minnesota
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is considering several updates to its subsurface sewage treatment system regulations. Besides clarifying some terms and correcting minor errors, the proposal makes changes dealing with the requirements for the use of pressure distribution and design of tank maintenance openings, and adds standards dealing with high-strength waste.
Some existing requirements would be simplified, including consolidating and revising soil tables and eliminating some duplicated language. Recent legislative changes dealing with surety bonds and a five-year compliance grace period are also included.
There has been some opposition from counties that just finished updating their ordinances based on 2008 changes. At the time, counties were given two years to make changes, and many were adopting them just as the agency was beginning the process to make more changes.
Virginia
The state Department of Health extended the deadline for interim regulations on alternative treatment systems from Dec. 31, 2010, to April 7, 2011. The regulations eliminate the ability of local governments to ban alternative technologies and require the systems be operated according to manufacturer instructions.
They also mandate maintenance contracts and licensing of soil evaluators, installers, system operators and owner-operators. Effluent from systems larger than 1,000 gpd and installed after July 1, 2009, must be tested by a laboratory. If the agency does not adopt the final version based on manufacturer O & M requirements before next April, it can extend the interim rules an additional six months.
South Dakota
Pennington County residents appealed the county’s new onsite ordinance to the courts after they failed to collect enough signatures in time to refer the issue to a public vote. The ordinance, approved in July by the county commission, went into effect in August, subjecting onsite systems to a $20 permit and inspection every six years. It also tightened regulations for installing systems. The appeal, which seeks to overturn the ordinance, will be heard by a circuit court judge.
Oregon
The proposed Legislative Concept 848 would adopt rules for the state Department of Environmental Quality to make grants or loans available for repairing, replacing, or decommissioning onsite systems, and for developing land-applied septage solutions.
The concept also establishes the Subsurface Sewage Disposal System Improvement Fund to help communities address septic system problems. Some of the money would be dedicated to onsite installation and operation and maintenance courses. The DEQ estimates more than 30 percent of residents use onsite systems and that 10 percent of them are failing.
