News
In defense of non-conventional septic systems
Andre R. Fontaine, P.E.
Environmental Systems & Solutions
March 10, 2008
Chairman York and Board Members:
I am a resident of the Blue Ridge district, and reside in Round Hill. I am a registered professional engineer providing consulting services in the area of environmental engineering. I was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to an Advisory Committee to the Virginia Department of Health for the Authorized Onsite Soil Evaluator (AOSE) program, representing the Virginia Association of Realtors, and have served on that committee for over three years now.
I wish to comment on Item #5 on your agenda tonight, regarding the proposed Ordinance to Regulate Nonconventional Sewage Disposal Systems. Many members of this Board already are aware that the staff of the Loudoun County Health Department, along with many members of the regulated community, spent a great deal of time and energy developing a draft ordinance to regulate the operation & maintenance of onsite sewage disposal systems within the County. I fully support guidance to owners and/or regulation of onsite sewage disposal systems, and I believe there is plenty of support for the County to develop and implement a new regulation to this end.
HOWEVER, this proposed regulation is poisoned with a prohibition on non-conventional wastewater systems, which has absolutely no business being before this Board for any consideration. For a little background, a conventional sewage disposal system is simply a concrete box in the ground, from which raw sewage exits out the box and seeps into the surrounding soil, and the sewage that does not manage to seep into the soil is removed with a vacuum truck and hauled off for treatment at a municipal facility. Advanced wastewater treatment systems, referred to in this proposed regulation as "non-conventional," utilize proven technologies to actively break down and process raw sewage. Effluent from many of these pre-engineered systems used at private residences is capable of achieving the same quality of effluent as a municipal wastewater facility. These "non-conventional" systems are THE best available technology available for this application. There is a movement here in the United States to phase-out some types of onsite sewage systems - CONVENTIONAL SEPTIC TANKS - not the state-of-the-art systems!
Only here in Loudoun County would we find politicians trying to persuade reasonable people that "Public Safety" is the motive for proposing a BAN on technologies that protect human health and our environment, and limit onsite treatment options to a box in the ground that leaks raw sewage.
The real purpose of a ban on non-conventional onsite sewage systems is to eliminate roof-tops. This IS another version of the downzoning previous politicians have forced upon us. All future rural residential development will be forced into utilizing expensive communal systems for new subdivisions, along with the continued use of the "box-in-the-ground for the Public's Safety." Further, LCSA will be required to operate and maintain all communal systems that would be dotted all over the County because of this regulation.
I recommend that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors adopt an ordinance requiring maintenance of conventional and nonconventional onsite sewage disposal systems ONLY after the complete deletion of Section 3 of the current draft ordinance, so that no limits are placed on the use of non-conventional systems.
Andre R. Fontaine, P.E.
Environmental Systems & Solutions
1
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