Nitrate pollution of drinking water from Septic Tanks
California's 12 million Septic Tanks are costly to maintain
17.09.2005 |Sascha Gabizon
By Mike Lee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 23, 2005
The tap water at Angela Lawton's home in Lake Morena Village is safe to drink, says the most recent notice she received.
Lawton got the word more than a year ago, but the East County resident still imports her drinking water in 20-ounce bottles from Costco. Of the stuff coming from her house pipes, she says simply, "I don't trust it."
For more than a decade, the Lake Morena Oak Shores Mutual Water Company has struggled to limit high nitrate levels in its water. Nitrate, which can reduce the ability of blood to carry oxygen, has leached from local septic systems to the groundwater, county documents show.
It's just the kind of invisible threat that state water pollution officials hope to avert as they clamp down on how California's 1.2 million septic tanks are monitored, repaired and replaced.
Their efforts began five years ago with legislation passed in Sacramento. The water officials are now evaluating changes that were suggested during a series of public meetings in July. They aim to complete environmental reviews of the septic regulations by early October for adoption of rules by the middle of next year.
Key elements of the controversial plan include mandating assessments of septic tanks and wells when properties are sold, compelling the use of high-end waste-treatment systems along nitrate-or bacteria-polluted waterways, and requiring owners of new septic systems to monitor them regularly.
Currently, there's no state monitoring requirement for residential wells or septic tanks.
While septics are most common on rural fringes, they also are the waste system of choice in Malibu and other posh places not served by sewer lines.
San Diego County, home to the fourth-largest collection of septic systems in California, had more than 71,000 septic tanks in 2000. Today's total is likely about 80,000, and about 1,500 new tanks are installed each year.
The county's largest septic concentrations are in rural communities such as Fallbrook, Valley Center, Ramona, Pine Valley and Alpine. But the tanks are common throughout the backcountry and most cities in the region, including San Diego, have pockets where septic systems remain.
Across the country, such tanks are the second-biggest source of groundwater pollution. Up to 20 percent of the septic systems nationwide don't function properly because of poor location, design or maintenance, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA launched an initiative in January to curb septic pollution.
California's water officials said they don't intend to require wholesale replacement of existing septic tanks. However, major breakdowns – such as wastewater leaking into a stream – could force installation of a new "supplemental" treatment system that can cost upwards of $30,000, plus fees for ongoing monitoring.
The proposed rules face opposition statewide.
They create an unjustified financial burden on local agencies and landowners, said an Aug. 3 letter to the state from the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health.
"Proposed regulations . . . are excessively prescriptive and . . . they do not focus the limited resources that are available on the systems or areas of greatest concern or risk," the association's leaders said.
Mark McPherson, a San Diego County environmental health official, said the new monitoring and reporting mandates would require more county staffing. He said the new costs would be passed on to the public through additional fees for septic installations and annual operating permits.
The state's septic legislation envisioned financial assistance for private property owners, but that was when California's coffers were flush. It's a much different story today.
"There are generally no general funds laying on the table anywhere for these purposes," said James Giannopoulos, chief of the groundwater quality branch at the State Water Board in Sacramento.
In addition, California's coalition of rural counties contends that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't make sense for such a geographically diverse state.
"We just don't think (state officials have) developed objective scientific data to back their assessment of what they believe to be a problem with failing septic systems," said Brent Harrington, president of the Regional Council of Rural Counties in Sacramento.
A state report showed that California is one of only two states without statewide regulations for onsite waste treatment systems. It said California's patchwork of county-by-county rules creates many inconsistencies.
Historically, county regulators have mostly ignored septic systems after they were installed, except for the rare situations when raw waste floated to the surface and created an immediate public health threat.
Advertisement However, state water pollution officials are looking at a different problem these days: the leaking of septic waste products such as fecal bacteria and nitrates into surface water and groundwater, especially near wells.
"There is a misconception that if you don't see it surfacing, the environment is protected. And that's not necessarily true," Giannopoulos said.
The board's recent research highlighted the rapid and unpredictable movement of water through fractured rock and valley soils in Northern California.
The state isn't sure that bacteria found in wells was from leaking septic systems, but Giannopoulos said the message was clear: "Wells are vulnerable."
He said other research confirms that septic wastewater plumes can travel much farther than previously thought. Local health and building codes around the state specify that wells must be placed at least 100 feet away from septic lines, but Giannopoulos said nitrates can travel more than 300 feet at dangerously elevated levels.
"When somebody says to us, 'Your regulations ought to be where there are problems,' we say 'How do you know that (septic systems) are not affecting nearby wells if those wells aren't monitored?' " Giannopoulos said.
But state officials lack studies comparable to those done in Northern California that would help define the threat of septic pollution in Southern California.
"Part of our challenge is that because this is new, we don't have a big handle on the situation," said Liz Kanter, spokeswoman for the State Water Board.
Situations vary from county to county.
Along Rainbow Creek near Fallbrook, San Diego County officials estimate that new rules could force a few hundred homeowners to install high-end, "onsite wastewater treatment systems." Their other option would be to pay for engineering tests to prove their systems aren't polluting the creek.
Rainbow Real Estate broker Craig Ohlson said the impact would be far smaller. By his count, just a handful of homes sit close enough to the waterway to be affected by the rules. Besides, he said, real estate lenders already demand checks of septic tanks before approving a property sale.
In the fast-growing outposts of Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley, developers commonly propose septic systems despite their risk of contaminating aquifers, said Jose Angel, a regional Water Quality Control Board official.
Nitrate pollution of wells in the high desert has the agency concerned about the number and location of septic tanks. It says that nearly 7 million gallons of waste drains into regional septic systems each day and that only a small fraction of the tanks are regulated by the board.
"The system of checks and balances is not working very effectively," Angel said. "We want to be more proactive."
Malibu, a high-priced oceanfront town haunted by pollution allegedly from septic tanks, was the poster child for legislation in 2000 that mandated statewide requirements for septic systems. The legislation was prompted by the environmental advocacy group Heal the Bay.
"It struck us with a lot of the water quality problems at (Malibu's) Surfrider Beach that septic systems were largely unregulated in California, whereas sewage treatment plants were heavily regulated," said Mark Gold, the group's executive director.
