EPA Septic Wastewater January 2001 - Chehalis River Council

Will EPA's new Guidelines for Management of Onsite/Decentralized Wastewater Systems Affect You?

Issue Number: 63
Chapter Name: Special Focus: Onsite Wastewater Treatment
Date: 12/2000

If you live in a community with water pollution problems from failing septic systems, EPA's new onsite/decentralized wastewater system guidelines could help you. EPA has developed draft Guidelines for Management of Onsite/Decentralized Wastewater Systems to assist communities in managing wastewater from onsite systems. The guidelines can be used as a reference by communities interested in improving their onsite wastewater management programs to increase public health and environmental protection. They were structured to allow communities to pick and choose or entirely adopt sets of management criteria that will provide the necessary level of protection while balancing cost and other institutional factors.

A Growing Problem

When properly managed, onsite/decentralized wastewater systems (commonly referred to as septic systems, private sewage systems, or individual sewage systems) can be the most practical and least expensive way to treat and dispose of household wastewater in suburban and rural areas. On the other hand, it is difficult to measure the specific relationship between onsite systems and the quality of our water resources; studies show that when these systems operate improperly they can contribute significantly to water quality degradation.

States report failing septic systems as the third most common source of ground water contamination. EPA estimates that approximately 168,000 viral and 34,000 bacterial illnesses each year result from drinking water systems that rely on ground water as their source. Malfunctioning septic systems are identified as one potential source of this contamination. In its 1999 National Health Protection Survey of Beaches, EPA reported that septic systems were a significant pollution source for more than one-third of the water-quality impaired miles of shoreline. The discharge of partially treated sewage from malfunctioning septic systems was identified as a principal or contributing factor in 32 percent of all harvest-limited shellfish growing areas. Onsite wastewater systems have also added to the overabundance of nutrients in ponds, lakes, and coastal estuaries. As a result, algal blooms and other signs of eutrophication have occurred..

In 1997, EPA's Response to Congress on the Use of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems recognized the lack of manage-ment as a major barrier to implementing decentralized systems and concluded that "adequately managed decentralized wastewater systems are a cost-effective and long-term option for meeting public health and water quality goals, particularly in less densely populated areas." In 1998, EPA was directed in the Clean Water Action Plan to promote adoption and management of appropriate onsite/decentralized systems and specifically, to produce a set of voluntary national management standards. These guidelines are a result of that process.

Did you know . . .

Approximately 25 percent of the estimated 100 million homes occupied in the United States are served by onsite wastewater systems.

Approximately 40 percent of new homes are served by onsite wastewater systems.

More than half of all onsite systems are more than 30 years old and a significant number are experiencing problems.

Septic tank systems constitute the third most commonly reported source of ground water contamination.

Management Guidelines

The management guidelines present five levels of management in a progressive series of model programs, beginning with basic information collection and awareness of maintenance needed, and moving up to the highest level of management, in which onsite systems are owned and managed by a utility. Each model program profiled in the guidelines shares the common goal of protecting human health and the environment. In general, there is a direct relationship between the need to protect a sensitive resource and the level of onsite/decentralized technology required. As more complex technologies are needed, the level of management should increase. The guidelines have been written to track these concepts starting with Model 1 (low potential impacts, simple technologies, and little oversight) and ending with Model 5 (high environmental risk, complex technologies, and a high level of managerial oversight). Each model program includes a set of management objectives and associated program elements and activities targeted at the satisfactory achievement of the management objectives. Program elements include planning, siting, design,
construction, operation and maintenance, residuals management, certification and licensing, education and training, inspections, monitoring, record keeping, and corrective action.

The model programs are a benchmark for a state, tribal, or local unit of government to:

identify its management objective;
evaluate whether its current program is adequate; and
determine both an appropriate management program, and/or the necessary program enhancements to achieve its management objectives and public health and environmental goals.

Model Program 1 - System Inventory and Awareness of Maintenance Needs: EPA recommends this as a minimum level of management. Model Program 1 applies where conventional onsite systems, owned and operated by individual homeowners, are sited in areas of low environmental sensitivity, i.e., no site or soil restrictions such as a high groundwater table or drinking water wells in close proximity. Model Program 1 is intended to raise the local regulatory agency's awareness of the location of systems, raise homeowners' awareness of basic system needs, and ensure homeowner compliance with basic maintenance requirements. This program also serves as a starting point for communities to have basic data to determine if higher management levels are necessary.

Model Program 2 - Management Through Maintenance Contracts: EPA recommends
this program where sites with limiting conditions, such as small lot sizes, or restrictive soil conditions (i.e., slowly permeable soils, shallow soils with limited treatment capacity or high ground water table) are encountered in a small portion of a community. These limiting conditions require improved effluent dispersal to the soil or additional treatment units such as media filters or aerobic treatment units, and are typically operated through contract with equipment vendors. Model Program 2, therefore, sets higher expectations than Model Program 1 for a regulatory program and for educating homeowners.

Model Program 3 - Management Through Operating Permits: This program is recommended in situations where the receiving environment indicates a need for advanced levels of treatment, such as an unconfined aquifer used as a drinking water supply or a fish spawning area. Model Program 3, consistent with the increasing risk, recommends setting measurable performance standards and ensuring compliance by issuing renewable operating permits that indicate specific performance criteria to be achieved. The regulatory agency monitors these systems for compliance with the performance criteria.

Model Program 4 - Utility Operation and Maintenance: This program is appropriately applied where engineered designs, such as aerobic treatment units, are required to overcome site, soil, or environmental conditions that are not conducive to conventional or alternative onsite technology. Frequent monitoring and maintenance are needed in these situations. Model Program 4 recommends that a public/private utility be responsible for operation and maintenance to ensure maintenance needs are met.

Model Program 5 - Utility Ownership and Management: Model Program 5 represents the management needs of a more complex program where a very high level of control is required due to public health or environmental concerns. It includes the public/private utility as the designated management entity that both owns and operates the onsite systems in a manner analogous to a publicly owned wastewater utility. This program is similar to the utility concept in Model Program 4. Under this level of management the utility maintains total control of all aspects of management, not just operation and maintenance. Although adopting the guidelines is completely voluntary, EPA recommends the highest levels of management be implemented in cases where there is high risk of environmental degradation or a threat to public health, particularly where onsite systems are identified as a significant source of water quality impairment. However, EPA does recognizes that states, tribes, and local governments need a flexible framework and guidance to best tailor their programs to the specific needs of the community and to the institutional capacity of the regulatory authority. These guidelines are not intended to supersede existing federal, state, tribal, and local laws and regulations, but to complement them.

Spreading the Word

EPA has collected input from various sources, including federal, state and local regulators, environmentalists, engineers, trade associations, and service providers and will continue to actively seek further input on how to ensure the guidelines are useful.

A Notice of Availability of the draft guidelines was published in the Federal Register on October 6, 2000. Interested parties are encouraged to submit comments using the following web site: www.epa.gov/owm/smallc/guidelines.htm. Comments can also be submitted by e-mail to decentralized@epa.gov, by mail to Joyce Hudson at the address below, or faxed to (202) 260-0116. The deadline for submitting comments is January 19, 2001.

Onsite/Decentralized Wastewater Resources on the Web

The Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment www.dal.ca/~swrs/cdwt

EPA's Office of Wastewater Management www.epa.gov/owm

National Enviornmental Health Association www.neha.org

National Onsite Demonstration Program (a part of Small Flows Clearinghouse) www.estd.wvu.edu/nsfc/NSFC_NODP.html

National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association, Inc. www.nowra.org

National Small FLows Clearinghouse www.estd.wvu.edu/nsfc_homepage.html

National Sanitation Foundation www.nsf.org

[For more information, contact USEPA's Joyce Hudson at (202) 564-0657, e-mail: hudson.joyce@epa.gov or Steve Hogye at (202) 564-0631, e-mail: hogye.stephen@epa.gov, both located at the USEPA Office of Wastewater
Management, Ariel Rios Building (4204), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20460.]

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