Brown County Health Department will no longer allow any exceptions for “pump-and-haul” systems outside of state code due to residents not complying with local procedures.
“Pump-and-haul” is the practice of using a septic tank to hold waste and then periodically having a licensed septic company come and pump it out. State code allows homes to have a “pump-and-haul” system. The county has a pump-and-haul authorization form homeowners can sign, agreeing to the local health department’s standard operating procedures including mailing in copies of water bills and pumping receipts.
At a May 17 meeting, Environmental Health Supervisor John Kennard presented updated pump-and-haul numbers to the Brown County Board of Health. Of the 11 homes that are permanently on a pump-and-haul system with a permit, only one is in complete compliance. Compliance means they regularly send monthly water bills and pumping receipts, showing they are having the system pumped.
Three others are in “assisted compliance,” meaning they must be reminded by a phone call and email every month to comply.
There are also four homes on a temporary pump-and-haul system. Of those two are in complete compliance.
“In a year — or a year and a half — we will allow no more except for what the state allows,” Kennard told the board last month.
Pump-and-haul systems are allowed under state code if a septic fails in the winter or rainy season, for example, and it cannot be replaced immediately. A homeowner can use pump-and-haul for up to one year and it can be renewed by a county health officer. Pump-and-haul is also allowed up to two years if a homeowner is anticipating connecting to a sewer system.
“We’ll do it if there is a failure and you have to have something until they can get it fixed,” Kennard said of future permits.
“We followed pretty much the state code except we were a little more lenient on who we allowed pump-and-haul for because of medical conditions or the property conditions. That’s not going to be the case within the next year. … Our citizens did not cooperate with us.”
A pump-and-haul system is required to have an alarm system alerting homeowners when it is full, but the alarm does not stop the discharge coming from the house to the full tank. The concern is that the majority of noncompliant properties using a pump-and-haul system directly back to Cordry-Sweetwater lakes and Lake Lemon.
