Greetings fellow residents of Brown County and others looking to enjoy a copy of our local paper. I’m writing this late at night having just finished watching the Commissioner Candidate Forum and noticed a repeated incorrect statement that needs to be corrected from Candidate Tim Clark.
In the forum, question 7 (around the 40 minute mark of the You Tube video; it was asked and referenced in The Democrat’s Oct. 1 article “Full-house-for-commissioner-candidates-forum”) and in summary, Clark answered as follows:
(1) We, Brown County Regional Sewer District (BCRSD), create a watershed study and wastewater strategic plan using public funding: this is true.
(2) We, BCRSD, posted the study and strategic plan on our website: this is true.
(3) We, BCRSD, along with commissioners and county council, denied his request for a public hearing on the submitted documents: this is misleading. We have always allowed questions and/or comments be formally submitted.
(4) Here is his error I wish to discuss: He states that Brown County’s major source of E.coli is pastureland and our water quality study affirms this. This is incorrect. I have personally explained this to candidate Clark, corrected him on his Facebook page, and now this is the third attempt to correct him. So let me try one last time to ensure that candidate Clark stops misrepresenting these claims.
First, here’s the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItIz1aSuIDc. It can be found on our website or find it by searching YouTube for “BCRSD Watershed Study Presentation”.
Second, if you have time, please watch the entire 20-minute video, or at least please watch from 14-20 minutes. This section describes our goal to identify the source using lab data. The lab returned five scientifically valid tests from the county and all had human as the primary contributor to E.coli in those samples.
Third, we had a computer simulation ran for the entire county. This looked at forestry, homes, farms, business, etc. to detail the transport of pollutants, including E. coli, across the Brown County land as surface runoff. This simulation suggested that septic failures for the county were not the primary contributor to E.coli.
What we found to be alarming as BCRSD was that the laboratory results showed that the simulation did not properly characterize the septic failure E.coli impact and was in fact much higher and worse than originally predicted. The simulation was wrong.
When candidate Clark last spoke to me, he stated his goal of not forcing mandatory hookups if a resident has a functional septic system, and I agree with him. Every homeowner should be given a choice: hookup initially as we, BCRSD, are trying to waive all costs for installation, or delay using the Indiana state approved waiver if you have a functional septic. The homeowner would then pay the hookup costs when and if the system is no longer functional.
And that’s the goal isn’t it? Remove or repair bad septic systems from our community that are spreading E. coli into our waters and allow those who have good systems to make the choice for themselves. As a BCRSD board member, my goal has and always has been to do what is within reach as a community to improve the quality of our creeks and lakes leaving this place I call home better off for the next generation to inherit.
Matt Hanlon
BCRSD board member
