RESOLUTION OF TMACOG SUPPORTING OHIO ONSITE SEWAGE RULES

Transcription

1 TMACOG Resolution No Page 1 of 7 RESOLUTION OF TMACOG SUPPORTING OHIO ONSITE SEWAGE RULES WHEREAS, the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG) is a voluntary association of local governments and non-governmental partners in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan WHEREAS, pursuant to 208 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, PL and the Clean Water Act of 1977, PL , the Areawide Water Quality Management Plan was developed and adopted on December 19, 1976 by TMACOG; and WHEREAS, the TMACOG Board of Trustees adopted the current Areawide Water Quality Management Plan on June 11, 2008; and WHEREAS, the AWQMP is comprehensive in scope, and many streams in the region fail to meet the Clean Water Act fishable and swimmable goals due to nonpoint sources of water pollution; and WHEREAS, the Governors of Michigan and Ohio have certified the Areawide Water Quality Management Plan as part of the State Water Quality Management Plans for Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Wood Counties, Ohio; and Bedford, Erie, and Whiteford Townships in Monroe County; and WHEREAS, the Areawide Water Quality Management Plan 4 delineates Sewerage Facility Planning Areas (FPAs) for sanitary sewerage service and establishes a requirement that existing onsite sewage systems tap into available and accessible public sewers as a regional policy, and Chapter 5 recommends policy and best management practices for onsite sewage treatment systems; and WHEREAS, the Ohio Department of Health study, Household Sewage Treatment System Failures in Ohio, calculates that 39% of Northwest Ohio household sewage systems do not meet design standards or Clean Water Act criteria, posing significant public health and safety issue; and WHEREAS, current onsite sewage disposal regulations, originally adopted in 1977, do not provide consistent standards, leading to higher development costs and unpredictability of regulations from county to county; and WHEREAS, the historical Great Black Swamp counties of Northwest Ohio commonly have soil and geological conditions that are significantly different from the rest of the state, including flat, slowdraining soils, shallow bedrock, and seasonally high water tables, posing special challenges for successful operation of onsite sewage treatment systems; and WHEREAS, the Ohio General Assembly appointed the Household Sewage and Small Flow On-Site Sewage Treatment System Study Commission in 2007 to develop consistent statewide onsite sewage treatment, as opposed to disposal, regulations to comply with requirements of the Clean Water Act and protect clean surface and ground water; and WHEREAS, the Ohio Department of Health has developed new statewide sewage rules pursuant to Senate Bill 110 and House Bill 141 of the 128 th Ohio General Assembly; and WHEREAS, the TMACOG Board of Trustees supported SB 110 / HB 141 with comments at its October 21, 2009 meeting, Page 1 of 7

2 TMACOG Resolution No Page 2 of 7 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY TMACOG: THAT; TMACOG supports the sewage rules proposed for ORC Chapter 3718 governing sewage treatment systems including both household and small flow (<1,000 gpd) systems and asks the Ohio Department of Health to implement the rules with the following considerations: Flexibility for local soil conditions, including tight clay soils, shallow bedrock, and seasonal high water tables; and Financial assistance for Local Health Districts to implement the rules, and for homeowners to upgrade onsite sewage treatment systems to meet the new design requirements; and Whenever a public sanitary sewerage system is available and becomes accessible to a structure served by an onsite sewage treatment system, the structure must be connected to the sanitary sewerage system and the onsite system abandoned; and A public sewerage system is the method of choice for collecting and treating sanitary sewage because: o A public sewerage system is environmentally the best means of protecting public health and the environment by providing higher quality and more reliable treatment than onsite systems; and o Onsite sewage treatment systems are inherently temporary until public sewers become available; and o Construction, operation, and maintenance of public sewerage systems represents a major public investment which requires user revenues to provide service; and The Current Agricultural Use Value (CAUV) helps preserve agricultural land by providing a deferment of sewer assessments; TMACOG supports and encourages the use of this program; and Set an effective date for the new rules not before January 2015; and THAT the President be and he is hereby authorized to provide this resolution to state and federal legislators, state and federal agencies, and local jurisdictions and agencies as a statement of TMACOG policy. Adopted by the Board of Trustees October 15, 2014 Yea xx, Nay -x-, Abstain -x- James M. Sass, Chair Anthony L. Reams, President Page 2 of 7

3 TMACOG Resolution No Page 3 of 7 Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG) Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (TMACOG) Page 3 of 7

4 TMACOG Resolution No Page 4 of 7. Staff Report TOLEDO METROPOLITAN AREA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS Subject: Ohio Onsite Sewage Treatment Rules In areas where public sanitary sewers are not available, sewage treatment is provided by an onsite system, in most cases a septic tank and leaching field that allows settled effluent to percolate into soil. In Ohio, onsite sewage treatment systems that serve 1, 2, or 3 family residential dwellings are regulated by the Ohio Department of Health through Local (County) Health Districts. The Ohio Department of Health estimates that there are one million onsite systems in use statewide, with a failure rate of approximately 39% in northwest Ohio counties. 1 A small scale study (approximately 200 systems) conducted by the Toledo/Lucas and Wood County Health Departments, coordinated by TMACOG in 2004, found test dye for about one-in-four onsite systems. 2 Statewide standards were first adopted for onsite systems in Viewed as inadequate to protect public health and comply with requirements of the Clean Water Act, there have been several legislative initiatives over the years to update them. In 2006 the Ohio General Assembly adopted new standards, which took effect at the start of The legislature suspended the provisions as of July In 2009, the 128 th Ohio General Assembly adopted S.B. 110, changing ORC Chapter 3718 which governs sewage treatment systems including both household and small flow (<1,000 gpd) systems. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) was required to adopt new rules after January 1, The review process included: 3 ODH convened an advisory committee in 2010 representing 43 organizations including local health districts, product manufacturers, system installers, service providers, septage haulers, local and state government, homebuilders, realtors, townships, county commissioners, and engineers. The committee met from 2010 through October 2012, with discussions on related rule topics at each meeting. Rule drafts were prepared based on committee discussions and posted on the ODH website in February, 2012; August, 2012, October, 2012 and early December, ODH conducted 11 regional meetings in January/February 2013 to obtain comment. ODH is posted the 2nd draft for the 30 day public comment period in November, The proposed effective date for the rules of May 1, ODH reports the key points of the new sewage rules: The rules do not require that all systems must be upgraded. All existing systems are deemed approved under state law until they fail and cannot be repaired. The rules establish new modern standards for system construction, alteration and maintenance when a system fails or breaks and must be altered or replaced, or a when a new system is installed. System owners can request a timeline for the incremental repair and/or replacement of a failing 1 Ohio Department of Health, Household Sewage Treatment System Failures in Ohio TMACOG, Stream & Septic Monitoring Study 4.2, October Ohio Department of Health, Draft Sewage Treatment System (STS) Rules Key Facts November, Page 4 of 7

5 TMACOG Resolution No Page 5 of 7 system. This spreads system replacement costs out over time and also allows the owner to try common sense solutions like installing water saving fixtures, reducing water usage or fixing leaks to reduce flow to the system. A wide range of modern design choices and technologies for new or replacement sewage systems are available that provide safe and sustainable treatment in the diverse soils and geology of the state. This promotes healthy communities and safe development in suburban and rural areas not served by public sewers. The draft rules carefully balance the protection of public health and safety from sewage related diseases with system cost and reduce the discharge of nutrients to the environment protecting lakes and streams, and reducing growth of algae. Good design options for systems help protect the financial investment of the homeowner in their system. Proper system maintenance ensures systems are sustainable for many years. Lower cost, low maintenance systems such as septic tanks to leaching trenches that use the natural soils for treatment are the preferred design and will continue to be the primary system installed in Ohio. New technologies are available for use where the soils present greater challenges for sewage treatment. The draft rules combine state standards with options for local flexibility. For example, local health districts can establish a local vertical separation distance between 6 and 18 inches to the seasonal water table, representing the most common limiting condition for soils in the state. This approach will help lower system costs where local conditions can allow more basic system designs. Local health districts work directly with homeowners on system permitting, installation, education, and monitoring of system maintenance. The Northwest Ohio Sewage Consortium is an ad hoc committee for sanitarians in the environmental health programs of 18 Local Health Districts, in which TMACOG participates. That group has met regularly for a number of years, and has followed and provided input on proposed legislation and regulation during that period. The principal concerns of NW Ohio Health Departments on sewage regulations: The soils, geology, and hydrology of the NW Ohio Huron-Erie Lake Plains Ecoregion are substantially different than the rest of the state. The land is generally flat, with slow-draining silt and clay soils, with shallow bedrock in many areas, and often with seasonal water tables that are shallow or at the surface. In many cases it is necessary to install a curtain drain to remove groundwater so that a septic system and its leaching field can function properly. Where feasible, curtain drains should flow by gravity, rather than requiring pumping. Regulations should not make pumping necessary. Many NW Ohio County Health Departments recommend use of gravity flow, elevated mound leaching systems to provide in-soil treatment of septic system effluent and isolation from groundwater. Statewide regulations should allow Local Health Districts the flexibility to use these passive systems where appropriate. Avoid using onsite sewage treatment equipment that is run by a motor or compressor. Experience Page 5 of 7

6 TMACOG Resolution No Page 6 of 7 has shown with home aerators and package sewage treatment plants that these systems are especially prone to neglect and failure. It is too easy for a resident to save on their electric bill by simply turning the sewage treatment system off. Residents rarely understand motors and other mechanical equipment, and they are usually not maintained properly. When the 2004 Stream & Septic Monitoring Study found approximately a 25% system failure rate, many of the systems identified as failed were home aerator systems without operative motors. The Environmental Council reviewed and discussed SB 110 in 2009; consensus was to support the bill with recommendations reflecting the special conditions of northwest Ohio. The Environmental Council also recommended including the grant / revolving loan program of another bill (SB 100), which was not included in SB 110. In the public review process to develop the new rules, ODH noted a request to modify the current requirement in Ohio law that existing sewage treatment systems (STS) tap into available and accessible sanitary sewers. This requirement is echoed in Chapter 4 of the TMACOG Areawide Water Quality Management Plan. The proposed wording was: OAC (I)(b) The owner of an existing STS shall not be required to connect to a sanitary sewerage system provided the existing STS is not creating a public health nuisance and has an operation permit from the board of health and has demonstrated proof of proper maintenance of the STS. The owner of an existing STS shall be permitted to make normal and routine repairs and maintenance to the system. When the system fails and/or creates a public health nuisance, and an alteration or replacement of the system would be required to correct the failure or abate the nuisance conditions, the system must be abandoned and the dwelling or structure connected to the sanitary sewerage system. TMACOG opposes the requirement that an HSTS must create a public nuisance before it may be required to tap into a sewer for the following reasons: 1) It is unclear where the proposed language would place the burden of proof determining of a public nuisance. Would it be up to the homeowner to prove that the HSTS is working, or would it be up to the local Health Department to prove the HSTS has failed? If the onus is on the Health Department, doing so would be problematic, involving finding and documenting an outfall. The difficulty and expense to Health Departments in documenting failed systems is part of the reason behind high failure rates 39% in NW Ohio by ODH s estimate. For another example, 86% of sampling sites in the Portage Watershed TMDL failed fecal bacterial standards. Generally residents claim their HSTS are working correctly as long as sewage is not backing up in the yard. It is also important to correct failed HSTS because they are a significant source of phosphorus, which results in Lake Erie s harmful algal blooms. 2) Treating sewage with a public sewerage system is inherently better than a large number of individual HSTS, and is the method of choice because it produces higher quality effluent, is more reliable, and is more effectively regulated. As such, public sewers are the superior method of protecting the environment and public health. a. A discharging HSTS is required to have an EPA NPDES permit, although enforcement of this provision is not complete. A discharging HSTS very often does not meet effluent requirements, in which case there is no remedy Page 6 of 7

7 TMACOG Resolution No Page 7 of 7 b. Public wastewater treatment plants are monitored; if a wastewater plant fails to meet effluent standards, it is subject to enforcement action by Ohio and US EPA. If a HSTS fails, enforcement is usually subject to a complaint being filed. It may continue to discharge raw sewage for years or even decades. c. HSTS are designed and intended as temporary means of treating sewage, until a public system is able to provide service. 3) Public sewerage systems are built, operated, and maintained with public funds, including tax dollars. They are a key part of our environmental infrastructure, and supporting them financially should be a matter of public policy. A sewer extension to serve an area that has enough failed HSTS to cause environmental and public health threats requires all residents and businesses to which the sewer will be available and accessible to connect and help pay for the project. Allowing individual residents to opt out because they believe their HSTS is working would make constructing sewers more difficult; it is likely that fewer sewer extensions to serve sewage problem areas could be constructed. References Ohio Department of Health Proposed sewage treatment system rules (Ohio Administrative Code ) eatment%20system%20rules%20update.aspx Page 7 of 7