Wednesday, September 6, 2000

By DAVE HAMIRCK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

The failure of a septic tank can be a nightmare for a homeowner, but what happens if hundreds of septic tanks in Fayette County should fail in a short period of time?
That's among the problems being studied by the Environmental Committee, composed of county staff people with expertise in related areas.
The committee has identified three potential problem areas:
Future septic tank failures;
Disposal of septage, the stuff that comes out of septic tanks when they're pumped out;
New federal regulations that may require capture and treatment of storm water runoff.
An initial report on the second item on that list went to the county Water Committee at its meeting last month, according to Chris Venice, chairman of the study group. The committee will discuss the matter again at its meeting next week, Sept. 13 at 7:30 a.m., with plans to make recommendations to the County Commission.
The county is not currently involved in the disposal of septage, but it may have to get involved in the future if surrounding counties start turning away the private companies who handle the product of Fayette's thousands of septic tanks now.
"This came to my attention most recently in a conversation with one of the members of the Clayton County Water Authority," said County Commissioner Glen Gosa, chairman of the Fayette Water Committee. "He said they are going to get to the point that they cannot accept out-of-county septage anymore."
Currently, many of the companies that pump out Fayette's septic tanks haul the septage to Clayton and pay a fee to dispose of it in that county's sewer system.
"We're trying to get information on the number of septic tanks, how much septage is being pumped per month, and where it's going," said Venice. With all the independent companies involved, she added, "It's a little difficult to get those numbers together."
Her best estimates are that Fayette has 17,000 septic tanks, with the potential to pump about 8.6 million gallons of septage each year. There are also 130 establishments in the county with grease traps that have to be pumped periodically.
"It is clear that septage disposal affects Fayette County citizens," said Venice's report. "Because of the unlikelihood of sewer lines being laid and treatment plants being constructed to serve every Fayette County citizen, management of septage will continue to be a concern for many years to come," she added.
"We need to be thinking about alternatives," said Gosa. "What will we do when we get to the point where we have to take our own septage?" Gosa said. "The commission "will have to address it," he said.
Among options to be discussed, according to the Environmental Committee's report, are land application, building a septage processing facility (essentially a sewer plant to handle septage), or continuing to ship septage to public wastewater treatment plants.
The other two items on the Environmental Committee's agenda will take longer to address.
Rick Fehr, county environmental health director, said there is currently no known solution to a failed septic system, except installing a new septic system in a new location. "There's a concern that we're living on borrowed time" with some of the county's older septic systems, he said.
"The state in the mid-1980s began to require that, in addition to finding a suitable site for a septic system, we have to find a replacement area in case that system fails," said Fehr. "That's good. But properties that were developed prior to that may or may not have a replacement area available."
The worst-case scenario, he said, is that hundreds of the county's older septic systems will fail within a short period of time, resulting in numerous vacated homes, with homeowners having to keep paying the mortgage while finding a new place to live.
"If you're already struggling to pay one mortgage, that can be a major problem," said Fehr. And on the county level, he added, "What community wants to have hundreds of properties deserted?"
On the committee's third item, federal regulations that require local communities to reduce the amount and improve the quality of rainwater runoff have been approved, and the state Environmental Protection Division is working on Georgia's version of those laws, said David Borkowski, acting county engineer.
Once the state sends the rules to local communities, then Fayette County will begin the process of writing local regulations based on the state and federal guidelines, Borkowski said.
That process is underway. The county has issued a request for proposals from consultants to determine what the county needs to do, develop a time line for doing it and recommend funding options.
"Within the next five or six months," we'll know a lot more," said Borkowski.

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