More than 60 people packed the Cook County Commissioners’ Room on Wednesday, September 25 to take part in a Cook County Planning Commission public hearing held to discuss a proposal for a new county septic ordinance.
Cook County’s environmental health and septic supervisor Mitch Everson went through highlights of the 27-page document before he and Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson took questions from the audience.
The last time the ordinance was updated was 1996, but last year the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), under the direction of the Minnesota State Legislature, asked all counties to adopt rules that conform to newer federal Environmental Protection Agency and MPCA standards.
Everson and Nelson received 50 questions from audience members, and also accepted a letter from the Cook County Coalition of Lake Associations (CCCOLA).
“We are drafting a response to each question,” Nelson said after the meeting. The next public hearing about the new ordinance will take place October 23, and will be held in the Commissioner’s Room at the courthouse.
The deadline to complete and submit the ordinance is February 4, 2014, Nelson said.
The lake association’s main comment dealt with the proposed ordinance’s lack of a point-of-sale (POS) provision, said Bob Reed, a representative of CCCOLA.
“For the protection of parties to a sale it would seem both logical and reasonable to include a POS. Also, related to POS is the conveyance of property within a family, which does not trigger an inspection. Many properties on lakeshore, for example, are conveyed over many years with no inspection. There should be a provision that covers this situation. A survey of ordinances from other counties shows that POS is an inspection trigger,” said Reed.
Many of the comments directed to Everson and Nelson had to do with grey water systems, and especially hand-carry grey water systems by people who have, as Nelson said, “low impact lifestyles.” Some questioned how technical they would have to make their grey water systems, and asked how much it would cost to make an expensive treatment system for a cabin rarely used or a small house where dishes or baths are taken with water carried in and carried out.
“We’re in constant discussion with the state about this type of situation,” Nelson said. “We’ve expanded what the state has asked us to do, and there is room for continued discussion. We don’t want to be so rigid. There has to be some amount of flexibility, but we still have to follow the rules and requirements put forth by the state.”
Several people questioned the language used in the ordinance, saying it was too technical and could be written in language more easily understood by laymen. But, said Nelson, “An ordinance is a list of rules and requirements that must be legally defensible if needed in a court of law. They are not an educational document. I hate to say it, but they are written by lawyers for lawyers. But we need to stick with the language in case the county gets taken to court.”
That said, Nelson and Everson have agreed to work on an addendum or separate document that helps explain some of the more confusing elements of the ordinance and will be made available to the public when it is finished.
The goal of subsurface sewage treatment systems (SSTS), commonly known as septic systems, is to protect the public health and the environment through adequate dispersal and treatment of domestic sewage from dwellings or other establishments generating volumes less than 10,000 gallons per day.
Grey water, which gets its name from its cloudy appearance, is the leftover wastewater from showers, baths, washing machines and hand basins, and can be recycled onsite for uses such as WC flushing, landscape irrigation and constructed wetlands.
Grey water differs from black water which contains human waste. Grey water typically breaks down faster than black water and has lower levels of nitrogen and phosphorous. However, all grey water must be assumed to have some black watertype components, including pathogens of various sorts, said Everson. Some people clean it with a drip line on top of the soil under mulch, or apply it below the soil. However, just how grey water will be treated in the future is still a point to be discussed, and that will take place on October 23.
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