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By Roberta Acosta

Rural communities across the country struggle to find reasonable and affordable options for wastewater treatment. Daunting capital investments, shrinking federal-assistance programs, increasing operational expenses, and stricter regulations along with a small customer base and geographic isolation make installing a new sewer system seem impossible.

Centralized or traditional sewage-collection and treatment systems often require large investments and intense management and operations oversight. Debt-service requirements, energy costs and overall operations and maintenance activities can quickly spiral out of control and can drain a community’s budget.

But there is hope.

In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that the use of decentralized systems for addressing small-community wastewater needs is a viable, long-term solution, if these systems are planned for, designed and maintained properly. EPA further stated that these systems are often less costly to install and operate than centralized sewer systems. 

What exactly is a decentralized system?

There is a lot of debate and sometimes confusion about what a decentralized system is.  Essentially, it is a cross between a conventional system and an onsite system. Decentralized systems typically employ more passive treatment technologies.

The term refers to the use of onsite or clustered systems to treat all of the wastewater generated in an area. A community may operate several small treatment “clusters,” rather than the more typical approach of installing large conveyance systems to one central treatment facility. This allows you to target areas of greatest concern, such as areas of dense population, and minimizes the investment in infrastructure.

Other advantages of decentralized systems include the ability for them to be “phased-in” and expanded for growth, and maximization of soil dispersal and reuse opportunities. The chart below summarizes the main differences between a decentralized system and more conventional sewage-treatment systems.

Installing a decentralized system

Any successful capital-improvements project takes planning. This is particularly true for a decentralized system. Community support and buy-in is especially important. Planning includes a number of items that will integrate the technical and institutional factors related to wastewater-system development, including socioeconomic, administrative, legal, public education, environmental and engineering factors.

The goal is to assess all practical wastewater solutions, including decentralized options, to develop a comprehensive plan that will guide you through the technical, managerial and financial issues of owning and operating a wastewater system. We recommend the following 8 steps in undertaking a decentralized project.

Step 1: Form a local stakeholder committee. This committee should include local officials but not be undertaken by the council. Interested residents and others with local business interests are good potential members. You should also ask your county officials, such as commissioners, sanitary engineers and health department staff members, who can provide additional resources.  Your local primacy agency and third-party technical assistance providers are good choices.

Try thinking outside the box for potential committee members. Nonprofit groups, watershed organizations and local colleges and universities may be able to provide an interesting perspective on your problem and ultimate solution.

Whomever you select for your committee must be committed to the process. It is a long-term and, at times, intensive commitment. The committee will be responsible for facilitating and managing the project, including collection and organization of data; keeping the project on schedule; assuring that the project is achieving its goals and purpose as identified by the community; coordinating between local residents, professional consultants, regulatory agencies and funding agencies; and providing public outreach and education. 

Step 2: Conduct a sewer-system assessment. This is an excellent way to start the outreach and educational components of your project as well as to determine your sewerage needs. Collecting information such as land use, basic soil characteristics, the types of systems that are currently in use in your community, locations and conditions of existing systems, and the proper identification of property owners as well as the location of private wells and water usage is extremely helpful.

If nothing else, you can generate a database of information and develop a low-level management program that would start with annual inspections and public education on the importance of septic-system maintenance.

Step 3: Coordinate with your regulatory agency. This is key to developing your entire project. Early, regular and timely coordination will ensure that you can come up with a solution that meets your needs and fulfills the regulatory requirements of your state.

Step 4: Build the public’s support. Hold regular and informative public meetings. A decentralized system is not like a traditional sewer system in which waste is hauled away and someone else takes care of it in a “flush it and forget it” scenario. You may need to ask residents for maintenance easements if any of the system’s components are installed on private property. You also have to be proactive in ensuring that the system is not abused. Local input early on will ensure the long-term successful operations of your system. 

Step 5: Hire the right consultant at the right time. Make sure you follow the proper procurement procedures when hiring an engineer for your project. Oftentimes, a community will hire an engineer and then turn over control of aspects of the project to him or her. The only way to ensure that you get the right system for your community is to stay involved all the way through the planning, design and construction of the project. Make sure your engineer is experienced. Check references and conduct interviews with potential engineers.

In addition to having the right qualifications, you need to find a consultant whom you can work with, who listens and understands your needs, and who will work with you as a partner. If he or she is working for you, then you should get what you want—not the other way around. 

Step 6: Secure financing. As stated earlier, programs that support water and sewer infrastructure continue to shrink. Grants in particular are drying up and are more competitive than ever. Publicly financing a large project takes time and effort. In addition, funding agencies are requiring more local commitment to these projects than ever before.

When you have decided to pursue a new wastewater system, you should institute a user charge system. This will accomplish two main goals: 1) It establishes a fund for your infrastructure that will potentially pay for up-front planning costs and/or make local capital contributions to the project, which ensures you will borrow less; and 2) It gets residents accustomed to paying a monthly bill. You can start this charge relatively low and gradually increase it over time so that the burden is minimized.

Spend time researching state and federal funding programs available to you. Take special note of the eligibility requirements (i.e., income requirements, public health concerns, environmental contamination or compliance issues) and the timing of application submittals. A third party, such as RCAP, can help you determine eligibility for particular programs, put together the most feasible financing package, and coordinate application submittals.

Step 7: Review your permit. Prior to construction, you will be issued a permit to install (PTI) and/or a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit (if your system will result in a discharge to a water of the state). It is important that you understand your permit, limits, operator requirements and reporting requirements. You should make it a point to continue to review this each time it is renewed for any unexpected changes.

Step 8: Complete your management plan. No wastewater system will operate properly and to its potential without proper oversight. The EPA has several documents available that discuss the particular needs of decentralized systems that can be found at http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/septic/. At a minimum, your management plan needs to address:

• staffing requirements
• training requirements
• operations and maintenance plans (i.e., references and resources, day-to-day operational needs, long-term maintenance)
• emergency action plan
• safety program
• lab testing
• annual budget
• regulatory requirements
• public information and participation objectives

It will be what you make of it

Investment in infrastructure is a key component of all aspects of your community’s health and development: economic, social and environmental. The right planning up front and diligence throughout your project development will ensure a positive outcome. You will inevitably hit road blocks and stumble, but with the right tools and a good plan to accomplish your goal, you will persevere. 

Acosta is a Senior Rural Development Specialist for Ohio RCAP, part of Great Lakes RCAP.