Todd Paulus, unit manager for the Stark County Health Department in Canton, Ohio, states that a bill in the state legislature revising Ohio’s onsite regulations will not cost homeowners as much as $50,000 to install onsite systems, as some have claimed.
“A few who oppose the state’s Home Sewage Treatment System Study Commission findings are attempting to invoke public outcry against the rules by overinflating the costs of these systems,” he says.
“Stark County is using most of the principles in the proposed regulations, and our installation costs are $7,000 to $15,000. Occasionally, in the worst soils, a drip system will cost $18,000 to $20,000. Since January 2008, we’ve installed 333 systems. The average costs are $9,850 for new systems, $8,475 for replacements, $3,501 for alterations, and $8,438 overall.”
In July 2007, Ohio rescinded new onsite rules that required some properties to replace conventional drainfields with mounds or pretreatment with low-pressure pipe drainfields. Counties were left on their own to determine what to do next.
Stark County opted to install less costly, less maintenance-intensive systems that still abided by most of the principles of the 2007 law. Besides conventional drainfields when soils permit, the county uses dosing siphons or Flout system (www.flout.net), and some flood dosing. Furthermore, the cost of technology has decreased since 2007, and more options are available.
According to Paulus, the most debated principle in the proposed rule requires a vertical separation distance for high seasonally perched water tables and harsh limited soil conditions. Approved procedures to reduce the distance would be to elevate or pretreat, or both. Opponents have objected to the additional expense of doing so.
Most soils in Stark County are moderate. Paulus admits that counties with worse soils may have a different perspective than his. “The average prices I mentioned included systems ranging from standard trenches and mounds to pretreatment with flood or (low-pressure pipe) dosing,” Paulus says. “Fewer than 2 percent are drip systems.”
