The rapid urbanization of North Carolina is requiring the speedy buildout of septic systems, including an increased emphasis on advanced treatment systems. Serving the essential sanitation needs of the growing population will require a greater emphasis on education and training of professionals who install and maintain these septic systems, says Erik Severson, an extension associate with the Wastewater Management Training Program at North Carolina State University.
The university offers four levels of training for installers, beginning with conventional gravity septic systems and concluding with complex, advanced wastewater treatment systems. The third and fourth levels require successful completion of a certification exam by the North Carolina Onsite Wastewater Contractor Inspector Certification Board. An additional training program prepares applicants for the NCOWCIB certification required to inspect existing onsite wastewater systems for real estate transactions.
In addition, the university offers training for wastewater operators to apply for certification exams from the Water Pollution Control System Operators Certification Commission for land application of residuals, subsurface wastewater systems and surface irrigation systems.
Pumper: What’s your professional experience in this field?
Severson: I’m a soil scientist with experience in the design, monitoring and maintenance of onsite wastewater systems. As a former regional soil scientist, I looked at problem soils and was called in to evaluate sites that experienced premature failure of these systems.
Pumper: How is population pressure driving a need for the installation and maintenance of a variety of onsite wastewater treatment systems?
Severson: The surge in population is returning to pre-pandemic levels and people are coming to every part of the state. The population growth is evenly distributed throughout the state. The Asheville, Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington metro areas are obviously destinations, but aside from this, the corridors along Interstate 40, 77 and 85 are rapidly urbanizing, suburbanizing and exurbanizing into suburbs of suburbs. Even smaller towns are growing.
There are sewer mandates for developments on a city-by-city and county-by-county basis, but the more developments sprawl across the state, the less likely you are to have the critical mass of population that can pay the million-dollar-per-mile costs of big pipe sewage solutions tied into a municipal sewage treatment system. About half the state’s homes have no municipal sewer service and that number is closer to 80% along the coast. Onsite septic systems are simply more cost-efficient.
Pumper: North Carolina is known for a wide variety of soil types and conditions. How does this present a challenge to installers?
Severson: Starting from the east we have the Outer Banks, which are mostly sand dunes. Although the soils are sandy, space consideration results in large vacation homes on small lots. This combination triggers the use of alternative or nonconventional treatment systems. New and historical fill is also a factor to consider in this area.
As you move inland, you have the Albemarle Sound, which is one of the largest freshwater brackish estuaries in the world. The surrounding counties, or Inner Banks, have low population densities. Then you have the coastal plains, a series of marine terraces that have high water tables and soil that exhibits a sandy surface, but a clay subsurface. East of I-95 is the Piedmont, which people think of as “red clay,” which is generally suitable for onsite systems. However, the Piedmont and other areas of the state have inclusions of expansive mineralogy, which is unsuitable for septic systems.
The Triassic Basin is very challenging due to expansive mineralogy, shallow-to-wetness and soil variability. Moving west, we have the slate belt, which contains silty, often shallow-to-bedrock soils that can have expansive mineralogy, and shallow seasonal water tables, all of which are not very suitable for onsite. Then you go into rolling topography, the foothills, the mountains — these landscapes generally have suitable loamy, permeable soil — and then the broad plains in the river valleys.
From high water tables to geology, each of these physiographic regions has its challenges. The soil limitations coupled with development pressures often present challenges for conventional septic systems.
Pumper: What’s driving the need for advanced treatment systems? Are developers building on soils that are less suitable for traditional onsite systems?
Severson: In short, poorly suited soils and development pressure. More than 321,000 people migrated to North Carolina in 2022. There is a tremendous demand for housing. North Carolina still has good land available for new housing development, but we’re rapidly building on our most suitable soils. However, the big driver in existing towns and cities is that lots are getting smaller and houses are getting bigger. The lack of available space forces you into more of an advanced treatment scenario and if you’re looking for that larger home, you will likely be more accepting of the cost. Roughly 5 to 10% of new systems in the state are advanced treatment systems. That percentage is likely to increase in the future.
Pumper: How does migration into North Carolina translate into a need for more professionals to install and maintain onsite systems?
Severson: I don’t anticipate that the trend of in-migration will end any time soon. To meet this robust growth, we simply need more people to site, install, maintain and operate these systems. Currently, there’s so much work out there. Installers and other wastewater professionals are busy working and in general steadily growing their businesses. But customers are already experiencing wait times of as many as three to four months for system installation, and that’s not optimal for some time frames of builders and homeowners.
Pumper: What’s the biggest barrier to getting these professionals to work in the field so they can meet the needs of developers and homeowners?
Severson: The biggest challenge to new installers is gaining the experience they need and also in learning the fundamentals of running a septic installation business. They need to learn the rules and how to work within the confines of the rules to protect our groundwater and surface water resources. A lot of people come into this industry from the grading, plumbing and landscaping fields and acquiring these additional skills is vital to supporting the growth of the nation’s housing infrastructure. A pressing issue statewide is obtaining quality help.
Pumper: How does North Carolina State University help to prepare installers?
Severson: We provide both the academic preparation and hands-on experience. At our Lake Wheeler Road Field Laboratory in Raleigh and a smaller-scale facility at Mills River near Fletcher, we offer onsite demonstration centers featuring hands-on access to fully functional systems from conventional to drip to pressure dosing to low-pressure pipe systems and pretreatment devices. In those sessions, we’ll hand (students) a mock permit and ask them to lay out these systems using lasers and grade rods.
Each year, we provide more than 1,100 installers, inspectors and operators with hands-on training — and we still currently have waiting lists for all of our programs. We also provide continuing education credits so these people can maintain their professional standing.
Pumper: If you could get one message out to installers, what would it be?
Severson: That this is a profession, not a job. People entering this field perform critical work and provide services that are mandatory for housing development. Without proper maintenance, these systems will have problems and potentially fail, so even if they’re out of sight of the homeowner, they should never be out of mind. Septic systems are a part of the dwelling or facility’s infrastructure. In my opinion, professionals in the onsite wastewater industry play a vital role in the nation’s economy.
