The California Water Board is preparing draft regulations with final adoption scheduled for summer 2008. The rules will require existing operation and maintenance service providers to obtain state certification.
The bill redefines wastewater treatment plants to include private systems for which the board or a regional board has issued waste discharge requirements. The state water board has not decided whether to require certified operators for those systems.
According to the regulations, Class 1 plants treat up to 1 million gpd. Every onsite system falls into this category. Class 2 plants provide biofiltration using sand, gravel, and textile filters. Class 3 plants use the activated sludge process, a sequencing batch reactor, or technology that treats to a tertiary level. Class 4 and 5 plants have higher design flows.
The legislation accepts documented experience as a service provider, making it possible to obtain the Grade 3 level within the required 36 months. Furthermore, passing each grade level exam counts automatically for 12 months of experience.
Service providers and system owners must take seriously the requirement to have certified operators. The state water code includes civil and criminal penalties that could send violators to jail. The California Onsite Wastewater Association is working with the state to provide educational opportunities. The draft regulations are at www.cowa.org.
Nebraska
As of June 20, the cost to register an onsite system is $140 with a new $25 late fee, if registrations are submitted more than 45 days after the system is complete. Regulators are considering increasing the amount of the late fee. The legislature adopted regulations allowing for a separate fee structure for reviewing subdivisions, an inspector clause for testing and certifying governmental inspectors and allowing smaller community and county inspectors to start or continue septic system inspection functions.
Washington
The latest set of rules Clark County commissioners are considering to comply with a new state environmental law would require septic tank owners whose lots ended within 300 feet of a sewer to connect to it if their tank fails. The county has an estimated 40,000 onsite systems, many in urban neighborhoods with sewers.
Most changes to the county septic rules focus on preventing tank failure. For example, they require annual inspections for most tanks with moving parts. Inspection fees are expected to rise, too, so the county plans to offer classes for people who want to inspect their own tanks.
For details, visit www.clark.wa. gov/health/environmental/septic/or contact Public Health Services Manager Jonnie Hyde at 360/397-8122.
Wisconsin
The latest version of the state budget proposes a 10 percent reduction in the Private Sewage System Replacement Program for 2007 and eliminates it on July 1, 2008. Funded at $3 million annually, the grants help eligible households and small business owners cover some of the expense of repairing or replacing failing onsite systems.
One Senate proposal increases vehicle registration fees for trucks weighing more than four tons by 10 percent, while the Assembly version asks for a 15 percent increase. Both would go into effect Oct. 1. The legislature is negotiating state budget provisions.
Ontario
The mayor of Trent Hills, Ont., Canada, Hector Macmillan, told a group proposing to ban the land application of untreated biosolids that its efforts were ridiculous, since Ontario has little alternative on how to manage the material reclaimed from Port Hope, Cobourg, and Peterborough sewers. “We don’t have the authority to place regulations on the Ministries of the Environment and Health,” said Macmillan.
Opponents claimed that their health was adversely affected as a result of airborne or water contamination from neighboring fields. Some claimed illnesses lasting several months or more. In some cases, entire households claimed they and their pets became ill within hours or days of farmers applying biosolids.
Macmillan told the group that he took their concerns seriously, but didn’t feel passing an unenforceable bylaw was the answer. He recommended that the residents forward their information and concerns to the province.
The Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services is stressing that a one-size-fits-all solution won’t work. “Each municipality or region requires its own appropriate solutions,” said executive director Don Kelloway. “Municipalities and the government must treat septage like they do garbage: Everyone creates it, making them responsible for providing a disposal method.”
