Septic rule changes seen coming slowly: State targets failing tanks along the River

The lower Russian River was again identified as a critical
problem area targeted by new state septic system regulations at a
state Water Resources Control Board workshop last week.
But hundreds of Russian River property owners with substandard
septic systems may see years go by before any serious code
enforcement begins, according to county officials.
“We’re not quite sure how this is going to play out,” said Nathan
Quarles, engineering division manager for the Sonoma County Permit
and Resource Management Department (PRMD), at the state
Water Resources Control Board workshop.
Under the draft state regulations expected to be adopted next year,
property owners in areas such as Monte Rio where the Russian River
is considered “impaired” owing to high pathogen readings, would
face no new code enforcement requirements for at least five years
after the new regulations are adopted.
The five-year window gives the North Coast Regional Water Quality
Control Board (NCRWQCB) time to complete a “total maximum daily
load” (TMDL) study to identify sources of pollutants, said
Quarles.
Meanwhile the County of Sonoma has three years to submit a Local
Agency Management Plan (LAMP) that may utilize “alternative
standards” for new and existing onsite wastewater treatment systems
(OWTS) which the new regulations will govern.
Many homes and businesses served by septic systems along the
Russian River will fall into a “Tier 3” category that applies to
systems within 600 feet of a water body listed as “impaired” for
nitrogen and pathogens.
These owners will eventually be required to upgrade their systems
to some form of “advanced treatment,” but exactly what that means
so far is not clear, say county officials.
And if communities such as Monte Rio can come up with acceptable
community sewage treatment and disposal plans they could be off the
hook for the stricter OWTS requirements.
Monte Rio property owners may also buy time by agreeing to hook up
to a centralized sewage treatment system such as the Russian River
Sanitation District’s Guerneville treatment plant within nine years
after the new policy is adopted, said Quarles.
The question of how low-income property owners are going to pay for
the required septic system improvements, estimated at anywhere from
$5,000 to $50,000 for single family residences and possibly into
the hundreds of thousands for commercial systems such as
restaurants, loomed large over last week’s proceedings.
“Don’t forget the little old lady on Social Security,” said Mike
Treinen, an OWTS consultant and retired chief of the county’s
environmental Health Department.
The NCRWQCB is now working on a TMDL for Russian River pathogens
which it hopes to complete within the next five years, said
Jennifer Rogers of the County Administrator’s Office in a report to
the Board of Supervisors this week.
The new regulation “will lay out time lines and specific
requirements for septic systems and other significant sources of
pathogens,” said Rogers.