(If you get this
more than once, please forgive us . . . it’s going to more than one
group)

They’re b-a-a-a-a-ck . . .

Just when you thought it was safe to
get back into life as usual, Jefferson County is back trying to figure out how
to require every on-site septic system owner to repeatedly and frequently prove
a negative . . . that your septic system isn’t fouling the Sound and
other waters in Jefferson County.

What’s the best available
science (BAS) they are using to base all of this on?  According to the
article in the paper, “ . . . because failing septics are
believed to pollute marine waters, streams and wetland, threatening
shellfish and other marine life.”  The phrase, “are
believed to”, does not rate up there with something more along the lines
of, “have been demonstrated to”.  That’s because nobody
has been able to find a whole lot of septics that are
actually failing at any one time.

(We’ve got photos of the Dosewallips elk herd wandering around . . . and defecating
on . . . the tide flats in Brinnon, though.
Also have access to photos of West End elk dumping in rivers out there.
We know that seals and other wildlife also contribute their bacterial, viral
and parasite loadings into our waters, too.  Every time we have a
significant storm event . . . and even from time to time when a government
employee opens the wrong valve . . .  we get reports of massive dumping of
raw sewage into our waters on the part of municipal sewer utilities.)

Meanwhile, what are they doing to
ensure that our municipal sewer system operators aren’t polluting the marine
ecosystems around us?  You guessed it.  The sewer operators get to
continue dumping all sorts of stuff that‘s harmful to a broad range of
marine life, including the salmon we are working so hard to save.  That
includes the leftovers from oral contraceptives, which also work very well on
fish, thank you very much!

How come rural landowners are
required to provide fish habitat when our cities get to continue preventing a
whole lot of salmon ever being hatched?

Once again, the Jefferson County
Health Board will be meeting during what for most of us is the working day,
discussing mandatory on-site septic monitoring and operations programs.
This one is taking place Thursday, June 12, at
2:30 p.m. at the Masonic Hall, 1338 Jefferson Street in Port
Townsend.

How about coming out to give them a
listen, and perhaps to comment on what you hear?

The following article appeared in the June 10, 2008 Jefferson
County edition of the Peninsula
Daily News.

It's worth noting that the state is more than willing to chase
the phantom menace of failing septics, based on the
assertion that ". . . failing septics are
shellfish and other marine life."  On the other hand, the state is
less willing to require that municipal sewer operators (MSOs), whose systems
are known point source polluters of marine and riparian habitats, move to
tertiary treatment of urban effluent.  That would be "too expensive",
you see.

Problem is, the used water that the MSOs treat to secondary
levels still contain a cocktail of biopharmaceutical residuals (leftovers from
the medications and supplements we take), household chemical residuals and
other substances.  This is sent into the Puget Sound and other water
bodies.  Just one of the residuals, synthetic estrogen, has been
demonstrated to be capable of cutting fish reproductive success by half, after
short term exposure.

So, while rural landowners are required to provide fish and
wildlife habitat, and now shoulder the additional expense of
frequently proving that their septic systems are fully functional, MSOs
will continue to be allowed to force-feed highly effective contraceptives and
other harmful chemicals to the salmon we are supposedly trying to save.

How balanced is that?

Jefferson officials to mull septics
program

Clallam to discuss its planning to aid effluent-control
management here

By Jeff Chew

PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County health officials
this week will hear about Clallam County's efforts to control septic-system
effluent from marine waters, streams and wetlands.

Clallam County Environmental Health Department officials will
present their ideas for septic system operations and management to the
Jefferson County Health Board.

The board, which includes the three Jefferson County
commissioners, meets at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the Masonic Hall, 1338 Jefferson
St., Port Townsend.

Andy Brasted, Clallam County's
environmental health director, and other Clallam health staffers will discuss
the county's management and monitoring proposal that would involve a committee
with several stakeholders.

"They have had a work group on it for more than two
years," said Andrew Shogren, Jefferson County's
new environmental health director.

"They've had to work through it."

State law requires that all counties create on-site septic
system operations and management programs because failing septics
are believed to pollute marine waters, streams and wetland, threatening
shellfish and other marine life.

The Jefferson County Health Board put on hold its own proposal
for an on-site septic system monitoring program because of an unpopular $39
filing fee from property owners.

The program's emphasis, said Shogren,
will shift to public education, outreach and incentives.

No action will be taken during the Thursday meeting, said Shogren, and will largely focus on what six other counties
have done with their homeowner inspection programs.

Proposed education programs would include classes focusing
homeowners on septic system monitoring and maintenance — such as Clallam's "Septics 101"
series.

The state Department of Health regulates large septic systems,
and local health departments deal with smaller residential systems.

Dangerous waters

Human sewage contains a complex mix of microbes —
bacteria, viruses and parasites — that can cause public
health threats if allowed to contaminate shellfish, water and the
environment, health officials say.

The main authority for regulation of on-site septic systems is
the state Board of Health, a 10-member citizen board appointed by the governor.

In July 2005, the state board passed a comprehensive revision of
the state's sewage codes.

It was the result of a three-year process that involved hundreds
of meetings and extensive input from people all over the state.

Provisions of this new law affecting homeowners took effect in
July 2007.

The state public health code now requires that all on-site
sewage systems be inspected on a regular basis.

The frequency of the process varies, according to the type of
system and its location.

The county Health Board was required to revise its own
septic code in July 2007 to make it parallel with the state code.

Along with these local code revisions, the Jefferson County
Board of Health drafted a plan for meeting statewide operations and monitoring
standards and protecting marine resources.

Jefferson County Editor
Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or [email-masked].