Karen Mancl
Professor and Water Quality Specialist
The Ohio State University
Providing reliable, low cost wastewater treatment in small towns and rural areas is a challenge in many parts of the United States.
A few communities have found an innovative way to make sure every home has sewage treatment service without the high cost of building sewers and treatment plants. For their approach, called onsite wastewater management, the community hires an operator to monitor and manage new and existing onsite wastewater treatment systems.
Onsite wastewater management has several advantages over the conventional approach of building sewers, providing a treatment plant, and hiring an operator to run a central system. The benefits are:
To sustain the decentralized onsite wastewater management approach, however, it is essential to hire and support a skilled wastewater treatment system operator.
The costs of managing onsite wastewater treatment systems are mostly determined by the local soil conditions and the corresponding types of wastewater treatment technologies used. In areas with deep, permeable soils, septic tank-soil absorption systems can be used. In areas with shallow soils to a limiting condition, very slowly permeable soils, or very highly permeable soils (such as sand), more complicated onsite systems will be required. The cost of management is directly related to soil limitations and the complexity of the necessary treatment technology. Most of the costs come from the salary and benefits provided for the operator. All systems will require periodic septic tank pumping and for some systems worn out pumps and other parts must be repaired or replaced.
Several approaches are being used to collect the funds necessary to maintain an onsite wastewater management system. While no single financing approach is ideal, the choice must be matched with the desires of the community and its leaders, to ensure adequate funds to sustain a viable management system. The four most widely used financial options include tax support, utility bills, annual operating permits, and direct payment for services.
Many communities cover important community services through local taxes. Road maintenance, emergency, law enforcement, public health, and even trash pickup are services sometimes funded by local taxes. Management of onsite wastewater treatment systems can be financed in the same way.
If only a portion of a community requires management of onsite systems, tax increment financing may be one way to set aside a portion of the taxes collected from that neighborhood to manage their septic systems.
Lake Panorama in Guthrie County, Iowa, has managed septic systems in the 5100-acre rural development since 1980. About 600 systems are inspected each year by the county health department. Support for the management program is appropriated from county funds by the County Board of Supervisors.
A common way to pay for wastewater treatment and management services is through a regular sewer bill. In this way, the cost of providing management services is spread out throughout the year. This approach works especially well if another public utility, like a water company or electric company, is providing the septic system management services.
The Georgetown Divide Public Utility District provides drinking and irrigation water to a foothill region of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in west-central California. Since 1970, it has also operated an onsite wastewater management program for 965 home septic systems and lots in a 3538-acre rural development called Auburn Lake Trails. Each property owner pays for both water and sewage services through a bimonthly utility bill.
Community wastewater treatment plants are required to hold an operating permit. This concept can be extended to onsite wastewater treatment systems. Each year, property owners must renew their operating permit.
The Will County Health Department manages over 2500 onsite wastewater treatment systems in the rural areas around Joliet, Illinois. Each year, property owners receive a bill for the fee to renew their operating permit.
Some community services are paid for as the service is delivered, for example, a fee for an ambulance call or a fee for refuse pick-up. In this way, those requiring the most service pay the most. While this approach may make budgeting and planning more difficult, it works well in communities that have a wide range of service needs.
Crystal Lakes, in the mountains of Larimer County, Colorado, manages over 300 household holding tanks. The Crystal Lakes Water and Sewer Association purchased its own pumper truck and constructed, operates, and maintains three wastewater treatment and disposal systems to handle the pumped wastewater. Each property owner is charged $75 each time a holding tank is pumped out.
Most communities, including the communities featured in this fact sheet, use a combination of financing approaches. For example, the costs of inspection and record keeping may be covered by local taxes, but any necessary maintenance, repair, or replacement expense is a direct payment for services. The regular utility bill may cover the cost of inspection, record keeping, routine maintenance, and minor repairs, but major repair or replacement expense is a direct payment for services. The operating permit fee may cover laboratory testing costs, but the cost of inspection and record keeping may be covered by local taxes. Each community must, on its own, select the most reasonable financing strategy to provide reliable support for an ongoing, onsite wastewater management program.
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Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.
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