We hear about Victoria, BC's impact on water quality due to sewage dumping but what are we contribute to the strait's startling amount of pollutants? Let's not forgot our rivers either. Should we be taking better care of the water quality in our local rivers? Where does all this pollution come from and how can we reduce our impact? What else can we do to help clean up our watershed? These are all questions citizens of Clallam County should be asking themselves, especially if they are not on city water. These people have been slapped with a string of new codes to follow concerning wastewater and septic systems. These codes will require many residents to replace their septic system, a big ticket item to say the least. While septic systems are normally something we try not to think about, should we be more concerned about where our wastes go?
Twenty-five percent of U.S. citizens rely on septic systems as their on-site wastewater treatment system. A large percentage of these people live in rural areas, like Clallam County, where no city water system is offered outside the city limits. The only option for rural families comes down to septic systems. These systems are fairly simple in design and have served as a reliable form of a wastewater disposal for more than a hundred and fifty years. The basic idea behind the septic system is to take gray water away from a home into a tank where, through a series of tubes, the water is released slowly into the ground. This traditional design is called a gravity fed system. While this is, for the most part, effective in areas with soft dry soil. In areas like the Olympic Peninsula where our soil is mostly clay-based and saturated most of the year, gravity fed systems have more than a few downfalls. With hard packed and saturated soil, released wastewater is not easily absorbed and so often sewage ponds form on top of septic tanks. These sewage ponds serve as breeding sites for all sorts of harmful diseases for humans and animals. And these ponds do not smell great by any means. If a gravity fed septic tank is close to a wetland or natural pond, the wastewater will naturally flow directly into these ecosystems. Not only will this contaminate that ecosystem but the waste will also be carried through creeks and into rivers eventually ending up out in the ocean. In small, slow amounts, human sewage has little impact on the environment. With a lot of outdated sewage systems throughout Clallam County, this wastewater becomes a bigger issue.
This is why Clallam County recently updated septic systems codes to require home owners to replace outdated gravity fed systems with new mound systems. These systems are larger and are built into the ground with dirt mounded on top to insure proper diffusion of wastewater. These systems also have pumps that keep tank pressure constant and control the rate of wastewater release. These systems no longer need to be placed in low spots, they can be higher or on the same level as the home and still work effectively. The soil saturation should be lower in these areas, meaning the bacteria and microorganisms that break down the sewage can work more effectively. Local codes also require new systems to be further away from wetlands and ponds than older systems. The slower the release of the wastewater, the more of it can be filtered out by microorganisms, making it safer for our creeks, rivers and ocean.
So why are some people against these new codes? It comes down to one thing: cost. Replacing an old systems is very expensive. Before you can even put a new systems in a few tests need to be taken. A perk test is a soil test that measures the amount of water saturation. Knowing this will help decide where your drain field should be put, but this test requires a soil specialist. Just having one come out to your property can be expensive. It is then necessary for a specialist to determine if there is any wetland area on your property. Using all this information, the placement of your drain field will be decided. The design, permit and approval process can take more than a year to complete.
Septic systems can be very economical and eco-friendly but up front costs are causing some people to resist. If we really care about our water quality then we need to take care of water runoff issues like outdated septic systems. It might be hard on the wallet now but if we ignore issues like this one, the real cost could be catastrophic.
Twenty-five percent of U.S. citizens rely on septic systems as their on-site wastewater treatment system. A large percentage of these people live in rural areas, like Clallam County, where no city water system is offered outside the city limits. The only option for rural families comes down to septic systems. These systems are fairly simple in design and have served as a reliable form of a wastewater disposal for more than a hundred and fifty years. The basic idea behind the septic system is to take gray water away from a home into a tank where, through a series of tubes, the water is released slowly into the ground. This traditional design is called a gravity fed system. While this is, for the most part, effective in areas with soft dry soil. In areas like the Olympic Peninsula where our soil is mostly clay-based and saturated most of the year, gravity fed systems have more than a few downfalls. With hard packed and saturated soil, released wastewater is not easily absorbed and so often sewage ponds form on top of septic tanks. These sewage ponds serve as breeding sites for all sorts of harmful diseases for humans and animals. And these ponds do not smell great by any means. If a gravity fed septic tank is close to a wetland or natural pond, the wastewater will naturally flow directly into these ecosystems. Not only will this contaminate that ecosystem but the waste will also be carried through creeks and into rivers eventually ending up out in the ocean. In small, slow amounts, human sewage has little impact on the environment. With a lot of outdated sewage systems throughout Clallam County, this wastewater becomes a bigger issue.
This is why Clallam County recently updated septic systems codes to require home owners to replace outdated gravity fed systems with new mound systems. These systems are larger and are built into the ground with dirt mounded on top to insure proper diffusion of wastewater. These systems also have pumps that keep tank pressure constant and control the rate of wastewater release. These systems no longer need to be placed in low spots, they can be higher or on the same level as the home and still work effectively. The soil saturation should be lower in these areas, meaning the bacteria and microorganisms that break down the sewage can work more effectively. Local codes also require new systems to be further away from wetlands and ponds than older systems. The slower the release of the wastewater, the more of it can be filtered out by microorganisms, making it safer for our creeks, rivers and ocean.
So why are some people against these new codes? It comes down to one thing: cost. Replacing an old systems is very expensive. Before you can even put a new systems in a few tests need to be taken. A perk test is a soil test that measures the amount of water saturation. Knowing this will help decide where your drain field should be put, but this test requires a soil specialist. Just having one come out to your property can be expensive. It is then necessary for a specialist to determine if there is any wetland area on your property. Using all this information, the placement of your drain field will be decided. The design, permit and approval process can take more than a year to complete.
Septic systems can be very economical and eco-friendly but up front costs are causing some people to resist. If we really care about our water quality then we need to take care of water runoff issues like outdated septic systems. It might be hard on the wallet now but if we ignore issues like this one, the real cost could be catastrophic.
Here is an old gravity fed tank.
Here is a new mound system tank, you can see the tank requires a pump and filter, this and the added baffle makes it much more efficient.
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2 comments:
Wow, Colleen. Since you ripped apart my last op-ed I guess I should return the favor.
First of all, I enjoy your title; it draws me in and makes me start wondering what you chose to write about before I work up the courage to tackle your light-colored text on light green background with no paragraph breaks.
Your subject definitely meets the criteria of an environmental issue on which peninsula residents are likely to have an opinion. I can imagine all the discussions going on around water coolers here in town, most starting with "damn county..."
Do new regulations impose a timeframe and is anybody exempt from these regulations? Does the county offer any assistance to certain income groups? This type of unfunded mandate sure is tough to swallow.
I agree that this issue is important and the changes, though costly in terms of money, should be more valuable to us than the status quo. I think you might go a bit further to make your opinion felt throughout your writing. You did choose a topic that required quite a bit of background information to bring readers up to speed, but I think you might allocate a bit more of your resources to expounding your views and telling readers what should be done.
Nice work and I concur.
Thanks Jacob for the feedback! To answer one of your questions, some people are exempt from replacing old septic systems because they live on land that is deemed too close to wetlands or what have you. The time frame is sort of within the nect ten years, once your system "fails" you have to replace it with an upgraded one period. So, I guess you could say there is no time limit at the same time there is one.
I have been thinking about changing my blog colors, I had a feeling some people might have trouble with the colors. :P Thanks!!!
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