Septic rules may get tougher

The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is poised to require more stringent monitoring and management of septic systems, which local agencies and individuals fear will increase costs and add another layer of bureaucracy.

But the executive director for the regional board said the amendments to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Central Coast Basin will not substantially change what has been done for years and should not result in major cost increases.

Board members are scheduled to consider the amendments at their meeting this morning in San Luis Obispo.

“We think some of those fears are perhaps overstated in terms of what it will take (to administer the changes),” said Roger Briggs, executive director of the Central Coast Region. “It's not all that different that what we had before.

“The counties have been doing these things for years,” he continued. “We've gotten together with the various counties when there have been complaints (about regulations) and resolved those issues. This is a continuation and refinement of what we're already doing.”

Barry Tolle, an environmental health specialist for the county who helped analyze the proposed amendments, said the county wishes that was the case.

“We're planning for the worst,” Tolle said about the potential costs, which he believes will rise for homeowners as well.

Generally, the changes will require septic systems to be inspected every two to five years, pumped out at least every five years and operate on alternating leach fields.

Homeowners with septic systems would have to document and maintain records of inspections and pumping. The county also would have to track inspections and pumping to be sure the requirements are being met.

The amendments also indicate San Luis Obispo County should develop a processing facility to handle the “septage” pumped from tanks.

County officials believe the required tracking and monitoring would increase the county's costs, and the cost of building a processing facility could be astronomical even if it was approved.

A water board staff report says the board “has considered the costs to dischargers and local jurisdictions of implementing the amendment and finds these costs to be reasonable relative to the water quality benefits ... .”

Briggs could not give a breakdown of the costs used for that analysis but said the “few changes should make the regulations more clear. They should not increase costs.”

But Tolle said the maintenance tracking and documentation would require the county to hire three new employees.

“We'd have to track every septic system in the county, and each system would require pumping every five years,” he said. “You're talking about two people for data entry and one inspector to find all these systems and log them in.”

Briggs said the amendments would not require the county to construct an environmentally friendly septage processing facility as county officials believe.

“But we do think it's a good idea San Luis Obispo County have a better plan for dealing with septage rather than just sending it out of the county,” he added.

Tolle disagreed: “When we've talked to the staff people who wrote all these amendments, they indicated they want us to have a regional facility.”

At present, Tolle said, sludge pumped from septic tanks is taken to the Santa Maria wastewater treatment plant, the only one in the area capable of handling it.

He noted the county has approached local agencies with treatment plants about taking septage, but there is no financial incentive for them to upgrade their plants to handle the thick, heavy sludge.

“They want to see something like a big sludge farm,” Tolle said of the water board staff, adding he's not sure such a facility is possible under current environmental laws.

He also said the cost of land in this area would make a facility prohibitively expensive.

“I can't imagine many property owners would be very happy to have one of those in their backyard,” he added.

The changes would also prohibit septic systems for single-family homes on parcels of less than 1 acre, and homes with secondary units would be limited to 2-acre parcels. Previously, those limits were simply recommended.

“In the past, if all the conditions were favorable - the percolation rate was good and it was not on a pad that slopes way down - they would allow (septic systems) on a half-acre lot,” Tolle said.

“They're taking that away. It really could increase the costs of a home.”

Tolle said the size limit could preclude new subdivisions with smaller parcels or could require developers to construct treatment facilities for new subdivisions, which could eliminate smaller tracts or greatly increase the cost of home sites.

May 9, 2008