Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle Year of Birth: 384 BC Year of Death: 322 BC
23 comments:
I have read your legal arguments and feel that they have substance. Thanks for posting the independent testing data on your website for your old system that did not enclude nano filtration medium. This data is old. 1990s data.
I also noticed that it was for just six months. Do you have any data over a long term period, with maintenance reports over the period? How much electricity was consumed on a yearly basis? Filter changes? Periods of pumping? Is there any new system with the nano filtration technology in use? Any documentation for a period of over a year, or is the system still experimental?
Can you find a large insurance company to bond your system to insure that it will work as you claim? What happens if you put in your system, it cloggs up, company maintenance is not performed properly, and you go out of business?
With your new system, you use nano filtration medium. As you well know, this medium scales with mineral deposits, and the medium needs to be replaced or descaled with acid on a regular basis to remove calcium deposits. Los Osos water enjoys 16 grains of hardness, soft water has less than 2 grains of hardness. Never mind the nitrate problem, how do you expect to handle the scaling problem? It would seem to me that pumping the tank every year of built up high concentrations of calcium carbonate and filter replacement or descaling every year could handle the problem. Of course, as a filter scales, more and more pressure is required to force effluent through the filter, which reads as increased electricity usage.
However, pumping a reclaimator, every year would come to 5000 tanks a year in the PZ. Slightly less than 100 a week. Of course if you used cluster plants, this would be less.
The water hardness problem could be solved by all homes being required to have exchange water hardness resin tanks to ensure soft water to the household system which certainly would decrease scaling and frequency of filter replacement or descaling.
Any data on your new system operating in hard water areas? Right now our tap water has 350 to450 ppm of dissolved solids. These dissolved solids will have to be delt with by your system. 45 ppm of nitrate is very small in comparison.
Mark, congrats on the new home!
Jon, all good questions, I want to know when final approval from the water board is going to happen.
It will take Mark a good deal of time to figure out the scaling problem. It will take the water board an even longer time to evaluate a possible experimental system. Of course, the water board will demand ten years of documentation, just like they did on our originally designed ponding system, and then if the documentation is not forthcoming, they will dismiss it out of hand.
Me too, me too. Congratulations Mark on hosting your own blog. It looks and works great. I think you will find this a much more fertile media for the kind of communication you want (need?) to do to accomplish your goals.
And, may I ask, it wasn't so difficult was it? How long did it take?
And now the more challenging stuff. Creating the blog is the easy part. Supplying a semi-regular stream of good content takes some effort. You could just continue to splat bits and pieces of cut & pasted content to your new blog - that would be better than clogging up the other blogs with such stuff - but this blog space now provides you so much more opportunity. It would be a shame not to use it. I look forward to reading some composed treatises on wastewater in general and the reclamater in particular. As well as commentary on the legal/governmental aspects of the process. The more you can frame the content the better we can understand it. That was part of the problem with your comments to the other blogs - there was too much stuff and not enough framing. It may have made sense to you but it was mostly jabberwocky to some of the rest of us. At least that's the way I see it. Of course you can claim I'm just too dumb to comprehend all the important stuff you post. But I think I'm about average in that respect so you might wish to consider me representative of your target audience. Or not.
And thank you spectator for a great lead in comment. That's what I've been trying to ask over on Ron's blog. Mark claims performance data is not an issue in what's coming down. Data seems to be an unnecessary distraction to what he considers the more pertinent issue of legal compliance with public health and welfare rules and regs. I'm still not convinced. I think both are nearly equally important. I believe Watershed could do no better than to begin his blog with a detailed response to your comment. Thanks.
I have read your legal arguments and feel that they have substance. Thanks for posting the independent testing data on your website for your old system that did not enclude nano filtration medium. This data is old. 1990s data. The fundamentals of biology don’t change with time. They are as they have been since God created them.
I also noticed that it was for just six months. Biological process technology can be demonstrated well within six months, as a matter of fact, you can actually demonstrated it within less than a month and even less than 5 days with the RECLAMATOR, as the results taken with the RECLAMATOR of Shaddox system was after a 5 day start-up after installing a new pump to service the membrane components.
Do you have any data over a long term period with maintenance reports over the period? We have accumulated data over a twenty year period in association with over 100 industrial, municipal, commercial and residential projects internationally.
How much electricity was consumed on a yearly basis? The RECLAMATOR consumes approximately 1 kwh/day. Most of my other large plants average approximately .5 kwh/lb of BOD/day.
Filter changes? The UF-900 in this application, about 1/20th what it is designed for, is expected to be changed out once every 10 years under designed use.
Periods of pumping? The Intermittent Decant Extended Aeration Continuous Feed Cyclic Reactor (IDEA-CFCR) biological process of the BESTEP 10 has demonstrated over the past 20 years of operaton to need pumping on a average of once ever five years in residential applications. Many of my commercial applications go for months in between wasting periods due to the uniqueness of the biological environment I create within the reactor as compared to any other of the other two EA processes known, the continuous and batch.
Is there any new system with the nano filtration technology in use? No. (just for the record, I know what your are referring to, but the actual membrane technology associated with the new system, the BESTEP UF-900 referred to as the RECLAMATAOR, is ultra filtration and not nano) I had one but the “society” implemented its removal. It was the Shaddox system which the data was taken from prior to its dismantling and its reactor being filled with sand to keep my client from losing her livelihood resulting from the State of Arizona and City of Lake Havasu initiating a powerplay lawsuit. If I didn’t remove it, they would have 1) put her in jail under a misdemeanor charge instead of a civil action which it was, in order to 2) cause Ms. Shaddox to lose her Real estate License due to the misdemeanor conviction whereas a civil conviction wouldn’t effect her livelihood. However, I had three years developing the prototype prior to it being removed, all on tape (including the removal with LHC Attorney and Mohave County representative observing its dismantle which was interesting as what we were supposed to be “dismantling” was a “holding tank” which they charged her for having in her yard.
Any documentation for a period of over a year, or is the system still experimental? As stated in earlier questions, there is over 20 years of inplace documentation in regards to the biological process when only 20 days will demonstrate the capabilities of the process. The membrane has 10 years of documentation. This is no “experimental”. This is an advanced design which is designed to do what it is designed to do, that is produce a quality of harvest water which is not subject to regulatory control. Please know I have over 1000 advanced turn-key designs under my belt as a professional process expert in this industry, holding patents on the most advanced biological process technology in my industry on the latest biological process technology to come along in the last 100 years. Why would anyone have justification to question my design?
Can you find a large insurance company to bond your system to insure that it will work as you claim? Why? I already know it works as I claim.
What happens if you put in your system, it cloggs up, company maintenance is not performed properly, and you go out of business? What happens if I don’t?
With your new system, you use nano filtration medium. As you well know, this medium scales with mineral deposits, and the medium needs to be replaced or descaled with acid on a regular basis to remove calcium deposits. Los Osos water enjoys 16 grains of hardness, soft water has less than 2 grains of hardness. Never mind the nitrate problem, how do you expect to handle the scaling problem? It would seem to me that pumping the tank every year of built up high concentrations of calcium carbonate and filter replacement or descaling every year could handle the problem. Of course, as a filter scales, more and more pressure is required to force effluent through the filter, which reads as increased electricity usage. I urge you to get your facts straight on our product. We use Ultra filtration, not nano. Our membrane is back flushable, nano is not. Scaling hasn’t been a problem when filter is submerged which ours is. Our membrane isn’t interfaced with mixed liquor, conventional MBR technology is. My application is an advanced technique designed to overcome all problems associated with conventional MBR technologies, just like my biological process does. This is what I do, develop methods to overcome problems common with other options.
However, pumping a reclaimator, every year would come to 5000 tanks a year in the PZ. Slightly less than 100 a week. Of course if you used cluster plants, this would be less. Typical service of the RECLAMATOR under normal use is only onec every 5 years. The law requires pretreatment requirements (control of pollutants at each privately owned source) to be applied at each and every home. Cluster systems are only optional provided individual control stratigies meeting pretreatment requirements can’t be met at each individual source.
The water hardness problem could be solved by all homes being required to have exchange water hardness resin tanks to ensure soft water to the household system which certainly would decrease scaling and frequency of filter replacement or descaling. As I said, scaling isn’t expected to be an issue, however if it is, we will implement corrective measures. Keep in mind, in an underground application, the membrane isn’t actually required. The only reason I designed the membrane into the process in the first place is to circumvent the Water Board’s of control, plain and simple.
Any data on your new system operating in hard water areas? Right now our tap water has 350 to450 ppm of dissolved solids. These dissolved solids will have to be delt with by your system. 45 ppm of nitrate is very small in comparison. I don’t really understand your correlation between TDS and NO3. TDS is not dealt with by my membrane. TDS is not dealt with until nano or RO is applied. NO3 isn’t delt with by my membrane, but by the biological process of the RECLAMATOR.
I have a question, why are you so interested in the technical aspect of the RECLAMATOR? I am not offering it for sale to anyone. Why don’t you focus on the cost differences and benefits and/or disadvantages of the solution for your problem between the AES Discharge Elimination Services as compared to the County’s quarter billion dollar impact upon your community? What difference does it make to you how the RECLAMATOR accomplishes the solution?
I have been in this industry for 35 years. This is the problem trying to “sell” onsite alternatives, it is impossible to educate the general public enough that they can understand how they work. I gave up this business model and now, I am the only one who needs to understand the technology, the customer only needs to understand the service they receive, eliminate the discharge of their pollutants, retain rights and ownership of all their water to total consumption as desired, reduces the demand on the public drinking water source through implementing a service which utilizes the ultimate water conservation device.
I am not trying to sell anyone on my technology; I have no desire to do this. Since 1977 it has been federal law that each house has a pretreatment alternative in place prior to discharge into the soil or discharge into a publicly owned treatment works.(I now this hasn’t been required until now, but from now on, it will be) That “pretreatment alternative” is required to be the best possible treatment technology currently available and economically achievable, this happens to be the RECLAMATOR. There is no other “equal” technology within the entire wastewater industry which compares to it in performance, cost or application flexibility.
Spectator, the Water Board can damand all they want, however, they won't get it with me. They have brainwashed you guys into thinking they have authority which they don't have. I have been in the industry longer than most of these guys have been born.
The power of the regulatory authorities lies totally on the boundaries of the law.
The law does not require "data"!
The law does require the possibility of a technology to perform as claim is "demonstrated", i.e. via calculations and drawing, that is the limit of they ability and power. We have done what is required of us, now they will do what is required of them or be subject to compensation of damages to AES for not doing what their job is.
I am not brainwashed. I know their job better than they do because they have not been doing it for several decades now and the Los Osos issue is evidence of it.
Their gig is up.
Spectator: I hope you will be able to read Tom Murphy's reply to your questions. I will try to figure out if I can turn on the italics.
The RECLAMATOR changes the way water works. The water law works in favor of the RECLAMATOR technology.
Toons: It was easy and took a few minutes to set up the blog. ( I suggest you try it;-)
I appreciate all your suggestions, so you can consider your message "delivered", remember I'm promulgating...
Regarding Data:It appears we are going to have to come to an understanding about data.
We have provided all the data that is legally required. Can you supply me with the data on the septic systems in LO/BP?
Opening frame: The LOSTDEP RECLAMATOR Solution is the only federally compliant solution being offered.
Stay tuned, this is a ground breaking project on many fronts. There are many fine points that create the "big picture". Hint: It is much larger than the LOSTDEP...
When I wrote ground breaking I meant it.
There is no legal requirement to provide "data".
Notwithstanding all that went before regarding the merits or non-merits of a terminator ....
Shed said > I will try to figure out if I can turn on the italics.
Yes, a little formatting would a long way in making such comments readable. And again you are making this sooooooo much more difficult than it need be. Your blog editor probably has an italic and bold button much like almost every other editor. If not, I refer you again to the bottom of the comment window where it says: You can use some HTML tags, such as < b >, < i >, < a > We already covered the anchor tag to embed links in the text over on one of Ron's threads here. And you seem to have the hang of that now. Let's see. What's left? I see a b and an i. Ya think maybe the b is for Bolding text and the i is for italicizing text? And they work just like the anchor tag. Only easier.
13 gives great direction!
WSM says:it will be easier to simple use the he said/he said format.
I thought I remembered cutting and pasting italicized print oto Ann's Land, which had me thinking that it wasafeatureI could active on the blog.
WSM says: What do you expect for free?
WSM says tominator = Tom Murphy
13, thanks for trying...what do you expect, for nothing??
Shed said > 13, thanks for trying...what do you expect, for nothing??
Nothing!! Nothing?? Dude, you are now publishing your own blog, you are embedding links, and you are using italics to format the text for better readability. You call that nothing? (sigh)
Wait. Sorry. On my low res monitor (driven by an antique computer) it appeared you were using italics. I'm still not sure. But I'm guessing those "WSM says:" aren't in italics. Dang! Oh well, two out of three is pretty good in baseball and basketball.
So PG, What happened to the Sunday evening post where you wanted to make a bet?
I'm happy with the results of the technology thus far.
The question was "what do Y-O-U expect?"
I still feel a lttle cramped in this new space. Things felt more "roomy/homey" over on Ann's Land.
Oh well I'll just have to get used to it.
Shed said > The question was "what do Y-O-U expect?"
Not sure what you're asking. Or even why you're asking. This is your blog. You get to set its direction. I'm hoping you will provide interesting, informative and/or thought provoking content. I'm hopeful but not particularly expectant. Many of us have submitted simple and straightforward questions but your responses seem jumbled, misleading, and almost always evasive. You (and Tom) seem overly quick to put down or claim our questions are not relevant. Still, we have questions about the Reclamator which you can either choose to answer or choose not to answer. Since performance data and citizen support are both irrelevant I'm not sure what you need a blog for. It seems you're trying hard to sell something that isn't for sale. Speaking for myself I'm getting tired of how difficult it all is. You've got your blog. Now make something of it. Or not.
Shed > I still feel a lttle cramped in this new space. Things felt more "roomy/homey" over on Ann's Land.
And this only a few hours after creating your own blog? With no commentary published yet?
Nor do I think Ann (or Ron, or many of the other citizens) felt the same as you. I seriously doubt anybody would label your participation there as "roomy/homey". Incessant perhaps. Unwelcome perhaps. But not roomy or homey. Do you think the atmosphere in their blogs happens by accident? They offer well developed and thoughtful commentary. Commentors might not always agree with them but they publish interesting content, and provide ground for relatively open discourse, and respond to serious query. I wonder if you have any idea what that looks like?
I'm weary of this banter. I'm glad you have your blog. I wish you well with it. I'll check in occasionally to see if there is anything published here worth reading.
So tominator is Tom Murphy? Let him identify himself on his profile. Lets put all this out in the open. Let everyone put this in the open.
Jon Arcuni, me, Spectator, is not just a simple person, with no access to political power, and I
demand the truth. I am who I am, my name is published, and I am respected. However, I am ignorant and deserve to be educated. Anybody who reads this blog will recognize my claim of ignorance.
I own property in Los Osos. I have assesed myself for 72 thousand dollars to get a system built. In the past, I have owned a water company based upon converting lousy water to mountain spring water.
I am interested in the preservation of my wealth in my property.
Do not bull crap me, by pass important questions, or slough them off, changing the intent.
Answer them to the best of your ability, or simply say you do not know.
I am really interested in your submarine. And face it, this is what it is. If it can do the job, I will support it.
There is nothing wrong with a submarine in a yard. Septic tanks are in many yards in this country, and in Panama and the rest of the world.
I do not deal in speculation, but confirmed and documented reality. The reality must be confirmed by independent reliable testing.
Do your stuff, and you may find billions of dollars of investment, because what you say you can do is definitely needed everywhere.
You MUST provide documentation of what you say your company can do.
I, and my friends, with billions of dollars combined, have access to the people important in government, and they listen. I also have access to many people in foreign governments. I write this from Panama.
You cannot buy me off, you cannot pay for my influence.
There are millions of dollars available for investment in your company. And you use the AES name. And you are NOT AES. AES is aware.
Publish your ballance sheet.
Full financial information on every one in your company, sunshine is light. Let everyone know that you have substance.
Just because you may not have any money, does not mean that your concept is not good.
You can spout law all you want, but the question is: Does your system work, and has it been documented thoroughly to do so.
Show excellence, as on the top of your blog, There is no reason to ask questions of a fully documented system.
As far as the law is concerned, just remember that money talks and bullshit walks. You are up against money companies with proven results. What is in your pocket?
So far I am unable to get any solid finantial information on your company, and you claim that you can get financing from a major player in the finantial market. Publish a letter of intent from this company, and publish your financials.
Just because you have a great invention, and can solve the world's sewerage problem, does not mean that you can do it.
Takes money and capital, and a few old duped people in Los Osos will not provide it.
Do your stuff, give me excellence, and your ideas and equipment will come to pass. No stupid people here. We want results.
Take your legal suits and shove them up your ass. You will need a couple of million to get them through. You can spout, but resources?
Provide clear documentation, cost analysis, and due dilligence by an independent lab or so, and there are people that will push you through. Then there are investors.
This is all about politics. If you got the stuff, you have nothing to worry about: money, documetion, and performance. No excuses accepted.
Do not lie to the Feds. Consider Martha Stewart. And they are coming, the problem you wish to solve is national. Excellence is required. Perform.
To tominator:
So you say, and it is a really big contract for LO. Document it By an independent testing agency like UL, who has liability on the results. But better still, get the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.
In the meantime can your company be bonded for 58 mil?
Like "sewerage"? Right?
Spectator said...
So tominator is Tom Murphy? Let him identify himself on his profile. Lets put all this out in the open. Let everyone put this in the open.
About us
The engineering roport is located on the "front/home page"
About us
Sorry for the broken links.
Back to basics.. "cut and paste"-
www.NOwastewater.com -about us, to see about Tom Murphy. Our email address are on the contact us page.
Respectfully yours,
Mark Low
Mark@NOwastewate.com
480.363.1154
Spectator sez:"Provide clear documentation, cost analysis, and due dilligence by an independent lab or so, and there are people that will push you through. Then there are investors.
This is all about politics. If you got the stuff, you have nothing to worry about: money, documetion, and performance. No excuses accepted."
Jon raises an interesting point here. It's possible that the Reclamator comes too late for Los Osos (too much history, too many previous thumbs on the scale, too little time left, etc.) BUT, if it works as stated, it could be yet another arrow in the clean water quiver not only here but all over. Clean water will soon become (already has in many places) more precious than oil. But rhetoric won't work, hard data will, and handled properly, could be a going concern and benefit in many places. All based on IF, followed by THEN, THUS & SO. i.e. data and a track record & etc.
Ann:
I am honored you clicked by!
We are right "on time" for the LOSTDEP.
It works as stated.
We are working in other areas of the world.
Without water there is no life.
The data and track record are both already a matter of fact.
Part of the LOSTDEP RECLAMATOR Solution is to regulate the regulators.
I don't want 40+ miles of leaking sewer polluting or "taking" water from the aquifer in Los Osos-Baywood Park, because there is a better, lawful and federally compliant solution here, now.
I like making sausage.
Clean water will soon become (already has in many places) more precious than oil. But rhetoric won't work, hard data will, and handled properly, could be a going concern and benefit in many places.
As years pass, problems surface in aging neighborhoods
Published on Tuesday, February 26, 2008
By John Ramsey
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=286356
In the last four years, more than 1,000 septic tanks have failed in
Cumberland County.
One of them belongs to David and Carol Cooke, who live in the Overhills
Park subdivision.
Last year, when a smelly spot bubbled up in the Cookes? backyard, the
children often weren?t allowed to play outside, especially when Carol
Cooke was doing laundry.
Pumping the septic tank didn?t solve the problem. So the Cookes got a
permit from the county, then spent $2,500 to lay new drain lines.
Everything?s fine now, and the Cookes consider themselves lucky.
?The inspector said we were quite fortunate,? Carol Cooke said. The
sandy soil in their yard was fit for a septic system. ?Had it been clay
... they would?ve either had to condemn the house or we?d have had to
find a way to connect to sewer.?
Sgt. 1st Class Ganege Dayaprema had a similar problem. Dayaprema bought
a three-bedroom house on Telfair Drive for his wife and children about
three years ago, then headed off to war.
The house was built in 1964 in the LaGrange community, during a
development boom.
Dayaprema?s septic tank started acting up within a month after he left.
By January, when he came home from Iraq for two weeks, the bathroom
flooded with every flush.
?I was so mad, I couldn?t enjoy my leave,? Dayaprema said.
He had the septic tank pumped before he returned to Iraq.
But by the time he got home at the end of 2005, the problems were back.
Dayaprema shelled out about $1,800 to have new drain lines put in a
different part of his yard.
The Cookes and the Dayapremas are two families with essentially the same
story. But their stories are going to have much different endings.
Dayaprema?s neighborhood has been annexed, and the city?s Public Works
Commission will get sewer to it soon. Already, lines are going in across
Reilly Road from his home.
No utility or government has any plans to get public sewer service to
the Cookes? neighborhood, which lies north of Spring Lake in an
unincorporated area of Cumberland County.
When it comes to such simple things as flushing a toilet and knowing it
won?t back up, or running a washing machine without worrying about
soaking the backyard, Cumberland County has long been divided into the
haves and the have-nots.
These days, there are about 50,000 have-not homes using septic tanks.
Most don?t have any problems. Some ? about 250 families a year, on
average ? have problems that can be fixed, as was the case with the
Cookes and the Dayapremas.
And some have problems so severe that they can?t keep living in their homes.
It?s a situation that could have implications for the safety of the
groundwater that provides the drinking water in many of those homes.
At the same time, the threat of septic tank failures could have
long-term effects on the county?s ability to attract growth.
It?s also a problem that county officials say they just don?t have the
money to fix.
A Fayetteville Observer analysis of county septic tank repair permits
found 1,071 failures from 2004 to 2007. That?s likely short of the
actual number, because many failures go unreported.
A septic tank fails when it stops doing what it is supposed to do:
getting the wastewater out of a house without backing up inside or
creating soggy, smelly places outside.
Some failures happen with the pipes in the house and can be fixed by a
plumber without a repair permit. Other times, drain lines start allowing
waste to seep up through the ground. Many times, that can be fixed by
laying new drain lines.
The biggest problems come when septic tanks serve houses built on small
lots, where there?s less room for new lines. Any septic tanks installed
today are required to include plans for a repair area, but that wasn?t
the case when many of the septic tanks in Cumberland County were being
installed in the 1960s and ?70s.
Problems caused by failing septic tanks have been particularly acute in
the Cookes? neighborhood ? Overhills Park ? and nearby Bragg Estates. In
those neighborhoods, homes have been condemned and families forced to
leave because soil conditions made repairing septic tanks impossible.
A foreclosed house at 1114 Riverside Circle in Bragg Estates has been on
the market for more than 160 days, priced to sell. But county records
show two owners in the past five years have failed to make payments on
the house because the septic system can?t be repaired. Neighbors said
sewage from the house was trickling into their yards.
Bragg Estates has had 10 septic tank failures in the past four years,
which is 9 percent of the homes there. Overhills Park has had 10
failures, or 3percent of its homes.
The continued failure of septic tanks, especially in the western part of
the county, remains an expensive reminder of poor planning that began
almost 50 years ago.
The roots of the problem are usually traced to 1959, when Fayetteville
was blocked from annexing growing parts of the county. While Fort Bragg
was fueling a building boom in western Cumberland County, developers
were cramming homes onto the smallest lots possible. All of the homes
used septic tanks.
There were a few years during the 1970s when the county approved as many
as 2,400 septic tank permits a year, said Danny Soles, an environmental
health supervisor for the county. ?From 1960 to 1982, we probably put
more septic tanks in than anybody in the state because building was
going that good,? he said.
Now the bill for all that growth is coming due. Fayetteville ? armed
since the 1980s with the ability to annex ? could end up paying more
than $226 million to provide water and sewer to the large swath of
western Cumberland County that it took in 2005. Retrofitting that area
with public utilities is an expensive process because streets and
sidewalks must be torn up to lay the lines. Each property owner will pay
a $5,000 assessment to the city, then will have to pay a contractor
another $1,000 to $2,000 to hook into the line.
The last of the 7,000 homes to be connected wouldn?t get sewer until 2023.
When that project is finished, more than 40,000 septic tanks will be
left in the county.
But no plans are under way to provide public water and sewer countywide.
Officials say that would cost more than the county or city can handle,
and the availability of federal grants and loans has dwindled.
?We missed the boat,? Breeden Blackwell said. He used to be a City
Council member. Now he?s a county commissioner. ?That?s not to be
critical of the early leaders. But now we all are having to pay the
price for that.?
The county is stuck, he said. It cannot afford to provide water and
sewer to everyone, but the failure to do so could hurt the county?s
ability to attract growth.
Countywide sewer isn?t feasible, and probably isn?t needed, said county
Environmental Health Director Jane Stevens. Rural areas do fine with
septic tanks, she said, and Cumberland County has some of the best soil
for them.
?If you?re on bad soils or if you?re going to densely populate, then you
definitely need municipal sewage,? Stevens said.
But the county is running out of land to develop with septic tanks. In
2007, only 700 new septic tanks were installed in the county. In the
past two years, the county denied 259 applications.
?Most of our good septic tank soil has been built on,? said Soles, the
environmental health supervisor.
Septic tanks already are more densely packed in Cumberland County than
some experts recommend.
The Environmental Protection Agency reported in 1997 that areas with
more than 40 septic systems per square mile pose a potential for
groundwater contamination from those systems.
A study last year by the N.C. Agricultural Research Service looked at
septic tank density across the state using census data.
The Fayetteville area?s average density of septic tanks per square mile
is 58, the agency reported. The same study found density at 29 in
Greenville and 64 in the Greensboro-High Point area.
Despite concerns about density, Health Department officials said the
risks from failing septic tanks don?t equate to a public health hazard.
About 275 failures a year is average for an area such as Cumberland
County, they said, which has an estimated 50,000 septic tanks.
David Lindbo, a septic tank expert with the N.C. State Department of
Soil Science, agreed.
The risk is minimized as long as repairs are done quickly and sewage
isn?t uncontained for long. But neighborhoods with clusters of failures
should get upgrades, he said.
He said Cumberland County isn?t the only place in North Carolina dealing
with headaches from years ago.
?Any time you have an area which underwent that building boom in the
?60s and ?70s, that building boom was definitely an issue,? Lindbo said.
In Overhills Park, where the Cookes live, septic tank failures may have
contributed to water concerns. The neighborhood is number one on the
county?s list of areas that should get sewer because of the number of
septic tank failures, said Tom Cooney, the county?s utilities director.
Like LaGrange, Overhills Park is old, and septic tanks aren?t holding
up. And it?s in a low-lying area with hard clay that isn?t good for
septic systems.
Spring Lake looked into extending sewer lines to Overhills Park, but it
would cost too much and the town couldn?t find grants. The project is no
longer being pursued, Spring Lake Mayor Ethel Clark said.
Last year, the operators of the Overhills community water system had to
shut down one of its wells because nitrate levels exceeded EPA
standards. It now gets backup water from Spring Lake.
The EPA says nitrates, which are odorless and colorless, can cause
serious illnesses in babies.
The water in Overhills is safe now, but reports say the levels of
nitrates have been too high there seven times since 2002.
A state official familiar with the Overhills situation ? who would
comment only if his name weren?t used ? said there?s no way to tell the
exact source of Overhills? water contamination, but speculation points
to septic tanks.
The company that runs the water system would only say the water is clean
now.
When it comes to septic tanks and private wells on the same lots ? the
situation in most instances across Cumberland County ? the rules say
that septic tanks have to be 100 feet from wells. Unless, that is, there
isn?t room for the 100-foot buffer.
Soles said he tried to block a developer from building the Kings Mill
subdivision near Hope Mills because the distance between the septic tank
and well on each lot was significantly less than 100 feet. The state
allowed the developer to proceed anyway, Soles said.
Over the years, there have been some small successes in the effort to
get sewer service outside the county?s bigger municipalities. A system
serving about 580 customers in Wade, Godwin and Falcon was completed in
2006. It cost $10 million, most of which was paid for with grants.
A state grant in 2005 paid for an emergency project in Kelly Hills north
of Fayetteville. That sewer extension reached 130 homes in a
neighborhood where raw sewage had run down the streets for years.
But those successes aren?t a trend, Cooney said.
?All those grant programs that existed in the ?80s, ?90s and early 2000s
have dried up,? he said. ?The only way to fund them now is going to be
revenue bonds or general obligation bonds.?
Cooney said it?s hard to convince people who use wells and septic tanks
that they need to be prepared to spend money if they want public utilities.
?People are willing to pay $110 for their cable and Internet, but people
don?t want to pay more than $10 for water and sewer,? he said.
Blackwell said because the county?s needs are so great, and available
money so small in comparison, the county should probably focus getting
countywide clean water first. It?s a more pressing need, and a less
expensive one.
Blackwell compares tackling the problem to eating an elephant.
?We have to take little bites, provide as much service as we can, then
take another bite,? Blackwell said. ?And this is a huge elephant in our
community.?
Local governments have shown little inclination to take those bites.
A revolving fund to pay for sewer extensions in the 1970s didn?t last
long. A plan to use $30million in bonds for water and sewer was shot
down by voters in 1992. A proposal discussed by the PWC, the city and
the county two years later to raise $200 million to extend sewer
countywide never materialized.
?I guess part of the priority was we built schools, we built jails,
sewer didn?t rise to the top of that list,? Commissioner Billy King
said. ?Clearly, septic tanks are not a long-term solution.?
But they do appear to be settled in as a long-term problem.
Staff writer John Ramsey can be reached at ramseyj@fayobserver.com or
486-3574.
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