Overview
- Many residents don’t fully understand how wastewater systems impact their daily lives and the surrounding environment. That’s why the Huron River Watershed Council is committed to educating the public and advocating for policies that support sustainable, effective water treatment solutions—whether that means expanding central systems or better regulating private ones.
- One of the key advantages of centralized wastewater treatment systems is their ability to significantly improve water quality. Unlike individual septic systems, central plants are designed to effectively remove pollutants such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and harmful bacteria. This reduces the risk of nutrient runoff that contributes to algal blooms and the degradation of rivers and lakes, including the Huron River.
- In many areas of Washtenaw County, aging and unmonitored septic systems are becoming a growing concern, and many septic systems in the county are reaching the end of their service life. The Washtenaw County Environmental Health Division reports that nearly half of the septic systems in the county have exceeded their expected lifespan. When these systems fail—as they often do with time—they can leak untreated waste into the ground and nearby waterways. This not only poses a serious public health risk but also threatens local ecosystems that depend on clean water.
- The county's Time of Sale (TOS) program requires that homes with private wells and/or septic systems undergo inspections before they can be sold. These inspections help identify failing or inadequate systems, prompting necessary repairs and preventing potential health hazards.
- HRWC is advocating for a central system, which would require a substantial upfront investment. However, central systems tend to offer long-term cost savings. By pooling resources and infrastructure, communities can benefit from economies of scale. These systems are generally easier to maintain, more reliable, and more efficient than the patchwork of household septic tanks scattered throughout the county.
- Centralized wastewater treatment is also more resilient in the face of climate change. With the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and heavy rainfall, these systems can be designed to better manage stormwater and prevent overflows. This adaptability is critical to protecting both property and natural resources as climate conditions continue to shift.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and who among us doesn't love to talk about septic systems? Of course, I'm being facetious, but when it comes to our ecosystems and public health, it is an important conversation. I'm David Fair, and welcome to this week's edition of Issues of the Environment. There are a good number of private septic systems in Washtenaw County. Most are aging. Many may be on the verge of failure. There are also a good number of municipal wastewater treatment plants in our region, but they operate independent of one another. The Huron River Watershed Council understands the potential hazards and is advocating for a switch to a centralized wastewater treatment system. We're going to learn more about it today with our guest, Ric Lawson. Ric is Director of Programs for the Huron River Watershed Council. And thanks for joining us! I appreciate it, Ric!
Ric Lawson: No problem, David! Thanks for having me!
David Fair: Do you have an approximate number of private septic systems operating in Washtenaw County?
Ric Lawson: It looks like there are about 1.3 million septic systems across Michigan, and about 25% of those, or 330,000, are estimated to be failing. I don't know if I have the number for Washtenaw County in particular.
David Fair: What we can say is that there are probably more than most people think.
Ric Lawson: Yes! Absolutely!
David Fair: And you mentioned that a good number of them are on the brink of failure. What is the average age of these septic systems in Michigan?
Ric Lawson: Yeah, that's a good question. These systems are put in place, and they're usually given about a 10 to 20-year life. But most of those systems go well beyond that. So, people typically don't look to get them repaired or sometimes even inspected until they start seeing problems that come up on the surface.
David Fair: And that brings up my next question. In your estimation, is there adequate regulation, either locally or statewide, to ensure these systems are maintained and safe from such failures?
Ric Lawson: Yeah, there really isn't. There is very little regulation of septic systems at all. In the county of Washtenaw, which is unique in the state of Michigan, there is a time of sale septic inspection requirement, which means that, anytime a house turns over at the time of sale, there is a requirement that there be an inspection of a septic system and that gets reported to the buyer the state of that system. Most counties across the state don't even have that. So, there is no requirement that systems get inspected, get maintenance, get repaired. And, in fact, it's even very difficult to, if there is a failing system, to force that system to get repaired.
David Fair: What are the potential ecological and public health hazards when one of these systems does fail?
Ric Lawson: Yeah. Sod it depends on how big it is and how bad the failure is. But, in general, you think about what is growing and what is in a septic system. And what really can grow in there is all kinds of bacteria and things that come from our guts that can make us ill. That septic will end up in our water systems--our freshwater systems. And if people get exposed to that, you're talking about things like E. coli, giardia, all the kinds of things that you hear in the news that could cause outbreaks and make people sick.
David Fair: Our Issues of the Environment conversation with Ric Lawson continues on 89.1 WEMU. Ric is Director of Programs for the Huron River Watershed Council. And I believe there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 waste water treatment plants in the Hurón River watershed. Ann Arbor has one. Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority has one. There's obviously many others. Are you satisfied with the functionality and results of these existing systems?
Ric Lawson: Well, that's a difficult question to ask, but a very important one and a good one to ask. I would say that in Southeast Michigan, in general, and in the Huron River in particular, we have pretty good systems, but they are aging. They're certainly better on the whole on a per capita basis than septic systems. But as they age, the systems can start to fail. That means not just the treatment centers, which typically get pretty robust maintenance, but the lines in the system can start to fail.
David Fair: So, you are advocating for a centralized wastewater treatment system. What exactly do you mean by that?
Ric Lawson: We advocate for a centralized wastewater treatment, as opposed to septic systems, to individualized septic systems, especially when developments get over a certain scale because they are more efficient. You have a professional who is operating the system, usually multiple professionals, who have had training in how to treat systems. They are regulated by the state with permits for what can be in the release--the effluence--from the septic systems. And so, we have better information about what is coming out of them and going into our freshwater systems that ultimately are the drinking water systems for the state.
David Fair: So, in replacing this for the septic systems, it would be a supplement to the municipal wastewater treatment facilities that we already have. Am I correct on that?
Ric Lawson: Yeah. We're basically advocating that more developments get connected to existing municipal systems or that it's better for municipal systems to expand rather than adding more distributed systems or septic systems.
David Fair: So, has anyone done a cost analysis on what creating such a wastewater treatment system would cost to serve any particular region of the state?
Ric Lawson: Yeah, it varies. It depends on how large and what kind of technology is used and what level of filtration is used. Communities do these analyses before they engage in development of those systems. So, they figure out what the cost is, and then, they build that out to their customers. And as the maintenance goes on, they increase those costs, so that these systems are taken care of.
David Fair: We're talking with Huron River Watershed Council Director of Programs Ric Lawson on 89.1 WEMU's Issues of the Environment. Should communities decide to move forward, what in your estimation is the return on investment?
Ric Lawson: That's a really good question! I think what you would end up seeing on a per household basis is that, over the long term, you're going to end up spending way less to maintain a centralized system--your municipal sewer system. Then, in installing, reinstalling, repairing or especially under catastrophic situations where you have a backup into your basement from the sewer or failure in your new yard, it's quite an expensive undertaking to pull out the old system and then install a new one. So, on a per capita basis, it's going to be much, much more cost effective to connect to a municipal system.
David Fair: Will this mandate or require changes in state policy and law to get to a centralized system?
Ric Lawson: No, I don't think so. I don't think we would need to mandate. I doubt that would ever be able to be passed, mostly because it's really not appropriate for rural areas to try to centralize this. Installing all of that infrastructure would be cost prohibitive for the low population that you have in some rural areas. In those cases, septic systems are appropriate if they're maintained appropriately. So, what we're really looking at is, for communities on the fringe of urban areas that aren't yet connected to municipal systems, they have a choice when they're doing these developments. They can try to force a septic into the ground, which is more prone to failure in those situations because the density of housing is greater. They can go to what we refer to as a package plan, which is privately managed sort of stand-alone systems that are really, very thinly managed and maintained and quite problematic across the country or they can connect an existing municipal system. And that's what we're advocating for. That's by far the best for our water quality.
David Fair: So, right now, you're advocating for a centralized system. You are educating the public on the possibilities and the value of doing so. When do we move from advocacy to action plan?
Ric Lawson: So, really, what we're talking about for action is that what we would like to see improved in the state is, what I was talking about earlier with septic systems, to get a better system for maintaining the existing septic system. We have put forward some bills that we were having under discussion under the last session that would provide some statewide requirements, either time of sale or on a regular basis, say every 10 to 15 years. And there was a lot of discussion about that, and we're continuing to push for passage of something like that that would really improve the water quality all across the state.
David Fair: Well, thank you so much for the time and the information! I certainly learned a lot today, Ric! I appreciate it!
Ric Lawson: Thank you, David! And thank you for giving us the time to talk about this important topic!
David Fair: That is Ric Lawson. He is Director of Programs for the Huron River Watershed Council. If you'd like more information on our conversation or would like to hear it again, stop by our website at WEMU.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 891 WEMU-FM, Ypsilanti.
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