23 Years of WasteWater Education 501(c)3: 2003 Our first year

Year One 2003

Chair: John Kelley at the General Meeting held December 11, 2003 at the Little River Band of Ottawa Indian Tribal Community Center, Manistee.

As a land use planner, one of the issues that frequently dictate discussions for development in an unsewered Township concerns the treatment and disposal of human wastes.

From a planning and zoning perspective, management strategies, which
may help to mitigate the impacts of these land uses include establishing set back requirements to increase system nutrient absorption capacity, require system inspection and upgrade upon sale of property to integrate best available technology, and consider implementing shoreline buffer zones to enhance nutrient utilization,

History
My involvement with the Task Force began in February of this year. The Task Force, however, was organized in February of 2002 when Gourdie-Fraser Inc., a civil engineering firm based in Traverse City, invited a broad spectrum of individuals to participate in a roundtable meeting to discuss septic tanks, water quality and regulations.

Since its establishment the task force met to exchange information related to county health codes, alternative technologies, financing of wastewater infrastructure and water quality protection.
The task force encompasses a 10 county area where approximately 85% of the existing homes in this region use septic systems because most rural areas and small communities are not served by municipal sewer
systems. Recognizing the need to pursue this matter, the Task Force conducted elections of board members in February 2003 and adopted the following mission statement:

“It is the mission of the Northwest Michigan Onsite Wastewater Task Force to encourage preservation and enhancement of water quality through adoption of appropriate technologies and operation and maintenance of onsite wastewater treatment systems.
We will serve as a nonprofit clearinghouse for education, information
on technology, regulation, and applications in northwest Michigan.”

The major goals of the Task Force include the following:
develop and implement regulatory schemes to protect and enhance water quality
provide specific, timely and credible information to county sanitarians
provide information to realtors, developers, property owners and the general public
encourage replacement of failing septic systems and holding tanks with alternative onsite systems, where alternatives are affordable.
To accomplish these goals, the initial focus of the Task Force includes four objectives:

Organizational Capacity
The first objective of the Task Force is to bolster the organization’s capacity to share existing information among the respective sectors concerned with these issues and with the public. This will be accomplished by building and maintaining a dynamic database and website, supporting accountable governance of the Task Force, building communication tools that can be used by Task Force members as spokespersons in public forums, and supporting grantwriting and programming efforts designed to assure sustainability of the organization.
Let me emphasize that the financial support of The Joyce Foundation of Chicago has made it possible for the Task Force to undertake serious work and look at ourselves as an ongoing organization. I will describe the Joyce Foundation grant in a few minutes. While the Task Force is proud of our successful application to the Joyce Foundation, we are not sitting on our laurels. We have also applied for grants from the Kellogg Foundation and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Unfortunately, both of those were unsuccessful. We have a number of other possible grants that we will be seeking for funds needed for this year’s operations, and we expect we’ll ask the Joyce Foundation for a second year of support.
In the long term, we will always rely on outside support, which must come from government or private grants or from contracts for services or possibly from membership fees.

Research

The second objective is to collect information relevant for policy-making that is not readily available in comparable form across the 10 counties represented by the Task Force. Additional information available from such sources as the National and Michigan Onsite Wastewater Recycling Associations and National Small Flows Clearinghouse will be identified and made available by internet links.
Research that is presently underway, such as that being done by Michigan Technological University under a Joyce Foundation grant, will also be collected and referenced in the information database.
We will focus our research on the Northwest Michigan region, investigating such matters as the following: health department budgets, county septic regulations, local population projections, the age of existing homes and septic systems, availability and suitability of alternative systems, water quality, and all aspects of septic pumping and disposal, including costs.

Communication
The third objective of the Task Force is to broadly disseminate our findings and our original contributions through news media, publications, constituent meetings, a speakers bureau, legislative hearings and participation in selected regional and/or national conferences.
In this first year, we haven’t yet gotten into our research agenda, so our communication program is somewhat limited. As we produce information in 2004 and beyond, we’ll share that information every chance we get. In fact, we will hope to get specific grant support for our communication program.
Demonstration Projects
The fourth objective is to plan, execute and evaluate up to four demonstration projects within the 10 counties of northwest Michigan represented by the Task Force. These are opportunities for practical demonstration projects and policy strategies that can be replicated throughout the Great Lakes region.
Rather than develop a hypothetical solution, for instance, to maintaining the water quality of an inland lake, we could work with the lake property owners association, the county planning commission, several
townships and an existing board of public works to explore formation of a special assessment district to own and operate a wastewater system around the lake. Also, we might find a public alternative septic system
that we could use to demonstrate to the public the proper operation and maintenance in order to protect public health and the environment. These demonstration projects will have to be communicated if we expect
other communities to benefit from them.

Vision/regional and Statewide goals
Our common interest is in replacing failing septic systems with alternative technologies that have been demonstrated to be effective but which are not specifically permitted under health and environmental
regulations in Michigan.
A serious effort to achieve this goal in Michigan will produce documentation of the harmful impacts of failing septic systems and lead to regulatory schemes that will assure proper operation and maintenance of alternative systems to protect water quality.”