New Jersey Watershed Association Moves Forward With Wetlands-Based Water Treatment System

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The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association in New Jersey is building a wetlands-based wastewater treatment center at its new $7.5 million environmental center. Expected to be completed in fall 2014, the new system will use the natural cleansing quality of plants, creating a more effective way to treat human waste and remove more pollution than a conventional septic system, the association reported.

Wastewater from the toilets, showers and sinks will flow into a tank where solids will be removed. The water will be pumped into the first wetlands stage, a container where microbes in the plants’ roots will attack bacteria, then flow through the rest of the system. The water will move horizontally through the wetland system, which will break down contaminants and clean the water, which later will be released into the ground.

Florida

An engineering firm conducting a study on septic tank regulations in the state has requested a one-year extension, until January 2016, to finish its work. A delay would continue to prevent the Florida Department of Health from instituting nitrogen reduction laws until the study is completed. The $5.1 million study, and the enforcement delay, was ordered by the state legislature in its 2008-09 budget. The legislature also passed a measure in 2012 to prevent local government from requiring advanced septic systems until the study is done.

The engineering firm says inconsistent funding from the state has delayed completion of the study. The legislature provided funding in the first year of the three-year study, but none in the next two budgets.

New York

One New York state agency has fined another and the two have reached an agreement to replace 30 septic systems in five state parks. The Department of Environmental Conservation and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation entered into a consent order to upgrade the septic systems. The parks department will also pay a $25,000 fine, plus another $25,000 if the terms of the consent order are not met in three years. The decades-old systems did not meet current treatment standards.

The action followed notice from Peconic Baykeeper of a lawsuit it intended to file because the parks were allegedly violating the U.S. Clean Water Act. The group says it still intends to file the lawsuit because it wants to see the use of more advanced treatment technology, including denitrification.

Louisiana

A former state septic tank inspector was sentenced to five years of probation for accepting bribes from a contractor. The 71-year-old contractor, Glenn Kelly Johnson, who had felony environmental convictions and had served prison time, died before he could be tried. Alan Forrest Pogue, the 52-year-old former employee of the Louisiana Center for Environmental Services, admitted to accepting $50,000 in bribes from May 2009 to June 2011. The federal court indictment said the septic tank inspector provided a list of those who applied for septic tank permits so the contractor could try to get their business.

An inspection of all septic systems in Tangipahoa Parish showed that 63 percent of aerated treatment units were not working correctly – many because they were not plugged in. Of 83 homes with conventional septic systems, 79 failed the inspection, mainly because their tanks had not been pumped. The ongoing program in the parish seeks to help homeowners and businesses to make sure their septic systems are working as designed.

Arizona

Despite previous rulings to the contrary, the rental of portable restroom equipment is subject to Arizona’s sales tax. The December 2012 order of Department of Revenue Director John Greene cites both state statutes and a 1970 Supreme Court ruling to support the rental as a taxable event, despite previous actions that exempted such transactions. The Supreme Court ruling mentioned in his ruling was not specific to portable restrooms, but instead dealt with a coin-operated laundry business and a company that installed car wash equipment.

In October 1979, the Department of Revenue imposed the sales tax on portable restroom units, a move that was overturned in November 1985 by a hearing officer and upheld by the Revenue director a few months later. In October 1988, the original 1979 ruling imposing the tax was rescinded by the Revenue director.

Greene’s new decision states that gross income from renting portable restrooms is subject to the state’s 6.6 percent “transaction privilege” (sales) tax. He ruled that the tax is imposed upon the gross income from the renting of portable toilets, including the servicing of those units and any other charges, including, “charges for installation, labor, insurance, maintenance, repairs, pickup, delivery, assembly, setup, personal property taxes, and penalty fees even if these charges are billed as separate items.”



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