About 1,000 people in Muscatine County can expect to hear from zoning officials this year because they are not having their septic systems that discharge into state waterways sampled or inspected as required. Only about 20 homeowners are in compliance with state rules that are being adopted at the county level. A free class is available for homeowners to become certified to take their own samples, or they can pay someone who is certified. The county is looking at various ways to increase compliance.

Illinois

The suburban Chicago village of Richmond is turning to septic haulers to help pay off a $7 million loan from the state’s Environmental Protection Agency. The village budget for fiscal 2013, which began on May 1, included expenditures to install equipment for a septage receiving station at its new, under-used, wastewater treatment plant.

Indiana

A seller’s disclosure form to be used when selling a home with a septic system will remain voluntary for at least the rest of 2013 in Allen County. Developed in 2012, the form was intended to inform homebuyers of the existence of a septic system and recommends an inspection before closing on the purchase. But in a 12-month period that included 282 sales of such homes, only 20 inspections were done. The Department of Health will reconsider the decision next year and discuss if the disclosure should be mandatory.

Hawaii

A bill to assess fees to homeowners with cesspools and septic tanks was killed before it could reach the floor of the Hawaii legislature. The money raised from the fee would have funded Health Department programs to make sure that water quality wasn’t being impaired by cesspools and septic tanks. Some lawmakers saw it as unworkable for many of the rural areas of the state’s islands that have no access to public sewers; there are 59,000 cesspools and septic systems on Hawaii Island alone. The bill was stopped when a dozen lawmakers voted to put a hold on the bill, which kills it for this session, according to The Maui News.