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National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C. Vol. 33, No. 11 * June 4, 2001 Previous story | Table of Contents | Next story EPA concludes: no need for more By James Davenport
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a determination that large-capacity septic systems (LCSSs) do not pose a significant problem to our nation’s ground water supply. As a result of this determination, the EPA proposes no further federal regulation at this time for large-capacity systems. This determination was published in the May 7 Federal Register for the regulation of Class V wells. Class V injection wells are typically shallow disposal systems used to place a variety of fluids below the land surface. The EPA and states are beginning to regulate shallow systems through the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, to protect underground sources of drinking water from contamination. LCSSs are septic systems that serve 20 or more people and treat sanitary waste only (no commercial or industrial wastes). The agency further recommended the implementation of the voluntary “EPA Guidelines for Management of On-site/Decentralized Wastewater Systems” (management guidelines) for siting and maintaining all decentralized wastewater systems receiving only sanitary waste. The management guidelines were published in draft form in the Federal Register on October 6, 2000. In 1999, the EPA completed a study of Class V injection that identified three documented cases of ground water contamination incidents attributable to LCSSs and 24 documented cases of system failures where the extent of any resulting ground water contamination was not known. Thus, the prevalence of contamination cases appears to be low relative to the number of systems in use (approximately 350,000). The EPA is currently developing the management guidelines to improve the performance of septic systems. The purpose of the management guidelines is to raise the quality of management programs for septic systems receiving just sanitary waste and institutionalize the concept of management for all sizes of septic systems. According to the U.S. Census, in 1990 there were approximately 24.7 million households across the U.S. that use septic tanks or cesspool systems. That figure represents roughly 24 percent of the total households included in the 1990 census. The EPA believes establishing management guidelines is a preferable approach to preventing potential contamination of ground water than promulgating additional UIC requirements for LCSSs. Since the management guidelines address all septic systems, it will work better with existing local/state programs that may have different approaches for large and small systems. The guidance approach will also avoid the additional requirements on states and the regulated community which would probably not be more effective in preventing contamination, because existing state and local requirements are already more specifically tailored to local hydrologic conditions. The EPA’s position is that any gap in environmental protection associated with these wells is caused by a lack of effective and proper implementation, not a lack of standards. The EPA’s approach is to encourage better implementation of existing standards. For more information on the NACo Decentralized (Septic) System Management or Drinking Water Protection projects, please contact Jason Shedlock, research assistant, at (202) 942-4252 or jshedloc@naco.org and James Davenport, research associate, at (202) 661-8807 or jdavenport@naco.org.
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