To the editor:
This letter is in response to Mr. Brad Williamson’s letter of 3/14/18 regarding the proposed Brown County septic ordinance’s Section 703, requiring septic inspections with property transfers. Mr. Williamson brings up important concerns, many of which have been raised in earlier public meetings. I would like to address some of them.
Mr. Williamson wrote that “if you have an older system, if your home has more bedrooms than is listed on your property card, or if the health department calls your office, den or loft a bedroom, you should be prepared to upgrade your system or make monetary concessions prior to selling your home if this ordinance passes.” This is not correct.
A septic system, regardless of age, which met regulations at the time it was installed and which continues to function properly (or can be repaired to do so) does not need to be replaced. A home in which the bedroom count has been changed, either by repurposing existing rooms or with new construction, needs to have a septic system that is designed for the home’s bedroom count. This is not a new regulation. It is required by existing and past state septic code, which local health departments must follow.
An undersized septic system cannot function as designed and can discharge waste into surface and ground water.
In the proposed ordinance, it is the homeowner, not the health department, that determines a home’s bedroom count. A home may have rooms or other spaces that are used as offices, media rooms, etc., that do not count toward septic size requirements. The owner, at the time of sale or construction, declares the bedroom count by affidavit. The ordinance only requires that the home’s septic system capacity match the number of declared bedrooms.
A potential homebuyer who fails to have a property inspection assumes a personal financial risk. When a home with a septic system that was designed to accommodate two bedrooms is marketed with additional bedrooms, or when an aged septic system is no longer functioning properly, the community is at risk as well. Ongoing monitoring of home listings in Brown County has shown that many homes are advertised with a bedroom count that exceeds the home’s permitted septic capacity.
Community members and governing officials have asked for evidence that failed septics cause health problems. Indiana State Department of Health data (ISDH Stats Explorer) shows that between 2011 and 2015, in Brown County and its surrounding counties, there were over 900 probable and confirmed cases of “enteric diseases.” These are diseases that live in the human intestinal tract and can be spread through human waste. Common routes of transmission include food handled by an infected person, direct contact with the infected person, and contaminated water.
We do not know how many of these diseases were transmitted through contaminated water, only that this can happen. Most healthy people can recover from most enteric diseases. However, in some cases, and for those with chronic illness, the elderly, infants and children, such illnesses can be serious or even fatal — all the more reason to prevent and detect septic failure.
On the question of how other counties approach point-of-sale inspections, Mr. Williamson writes that LaPorte County’s point of sale inspection “does not require upgrades for any systems that are not failing as part of a property transfer.” This is not correct. The LaPorte County ordinance states: “The health department may issue an appropriate order to repair, replace or clean any system that has failed, is in violation of applicable public health codes, or is a threat to ground water, surface water, or public health” (emphasis added). This would apply to a system that is undersized for a home’s bedroom count, as in the Brown County ordinance.
At least one other county requires a point-of-sale inspection. Since 2009 in St. Joseph County: “If a property has an on site septic system or a potable water well, the seller or their authorized agent shall have the septic system inspected and potable water tested prior to closing the property transfer and shall provide the results of the inspection and tests to the buyer and the Health Department according to the requirements and schedules.”
A point-of-sale inspection will not find every failed or aging septic in the county, but it will reduce the risk of a septic failure through overloading an undersized system. This can begin the process of repairing or replacing aging, failed or failing systems. As one county resident has observed: “Time of sale offers a shared opportunity for both seller and buyer to negotiate any costs for repair or upgrades to the septic system.”
The next public meeting to discuss the ordinance will be March 29 at 6 p.m. in the Salmon Room.
Cathy Rountree, Brown County
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