During the planning stage to construct a large wastewater conveyance system from Livingston County (Mich.) to Genesee County, Livingston County Environmental Health Director Dianne McCormick approached county Drain Commissioner Brian Jonckheere about incorporating septage. The five-year maintenance cycle for the county’s 42,000 septic tanks produced 12 million gallons of septage annually. With 1,000 new onsite systems permitted yearly, the agency estimated land application rates of 9 to 13 million gallons annually.In 2004, a new state law granted local governments the authority to ban land application and dictate where to dispose of septage. The mandate also required haulers within 25 miles
