Introduction

A short overview of septic system problems in our watershed

Communities CRWP is working with

• Hope
• Meriden

• Nicolville

• Taopi

• Granger

• Fillmore County Septic System Pilot Inventory Program
• Marysvale
• Kasson
• Bixby
• Roberds Lake

County Contact People for Septic Systems

Introduction

   CRWP’s Small Communities Wastewater Project (“Wastewater III”) focuses on working with small communities and clusters of homes which have failing or “straight pipe” septic systems. A “straight-pipe system” is a sewage disposal system that dumps raw sewage directly into the environment and often times directly to a waterbody, such as a drainage ditch, creek, or river. Unbeknownst to most people in Minnesota, we still have communities and homes which dump raw sewage directly into our rivers. CRWP is working with many of these communities in Southeast Minnesota to provide education, technical assistance, and community facilitation expertise with the ultimate goal of getting people into compliance and the raw sewage out of our rivers.

   This raw sewage shows up as fecal coliform bacteria when the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) tests our waters. CRWP’s Small Communities Wastewater Project is in response to a Total Maximum Daily Load Study (TMDL), which found that many streams in our area pose a risk of human illness from excessive levels of fecal coliform bacteria. An estimated 20% of the streams and rivers in the watershed are listed by the MPCA as “impaired” (polluted) by fecal coliform bacteria, aka untreated sewage and manure runoff from agricultural lands.

   Follow the link below to a recent article in the Star Tribune about these types of communities and the problems they face. It’s an informative article about a pollution problem CRWP is working to hard to clean up. Both communities mentioned in the article, Nicolville and Hope, are currently being assisted by CRWP’s Community Sewage Treatment Facilitators, Sheila Craig and Aaron Wills .

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/470972.html

A Short overview of septic system problems in our watershed

Individual Homes with Septic Systems

   Homes with septic systems are required to have systems that are compliant to the local county ordinance. Local county ordinances vary slightly across the watershed, although all require sewage treatment. For example most counties require septic systems to be inspected if a home is sold, but many do not require that the septic systems be actually in compliance or brought into compliance at the point of sale. 

   Septic systems are classified as compliant, non-compliant or failing, or an Imminent Threat to Public Health and Safety (ITPH). Systems that are an ITPH are more commonly known as “straight pipes” and usually discharge directly to the surface and/or surface waters such as a drainage ditch, creek, or river. These ITPH systems are the main culprits contributing raw sewage into the rivers and streams of the Cannon River watershed. Literally, hundreds of homes in each of the counties in the Cannon River watershed have septic systems which are classified as Imminent Threats to Public Health and Safety and are discharging raw sewage into the environment. These homes almost always have septic systems that were installed before 1996 when the State mandated minimum standards for county regulation of septic systems. Many of the homes have old systems from 30 to 60 years ago that are hooked in to a tile line, drainage pipe or discharge back in the woods. These homes are difficult to pinpoint and bring into compliance for counties without a full-scale county inventory of all septic systems.

Small Communities

   Years ago we thought about sewage very differently than we do today. The main objective was usually to get “rid” of it. Out of sight, out of mind was the prevailing theory. Now though we understand that just because our sewage goes away doesn’t mean it is being treated and that if we don’t treat the sewage it will pollute our rivers and lakes. Many small communities, not only in the Cannon River watershed, but across the state have outdated community systems. These systems often are made up of a community collection system to collect the sewage from each home. This collection system leads to a pipe which empties into a waterway, such as a drainage ditch, wetland, creek, or river. Not all small communities with wastewater treatment problems have a community collection system and discharge pipe. In most small communities in fact every home has an individual septic system. This does not necessarily mean that the community has sewage treatment problems. It is only when a large portion of the homes in the community do not have compliant septic systems thereby creating a concentration of untreated sewage.

Communities CRWP is working with

Hope 

Meriden

Meriden is located 9 miles east of Owatonna, also in Steele County . Most of the community is hooked into a collection system that empties into a nearby drainage ditch. Since the community formed a Task Force in 2004, progress on the project has been very swift. Normally a small community wastewater project takes 5 to 7 years to complete. However, Meriden is hoping to complete their project in 3 years. This has been possible because of the close working relationship of the Task Force of community members and the Township Board. The Township Board from the beginning has been extremely supportive of the project and has spent many many hours working with the Task Force to move the project forward.

Nicolville

Challenges Continue to Continue for Nicolville 

Nicolville is a collection of 16 homes east of Austin in Mower County .  It is named Nicolville because of the 50 year-old Nicolville Sewer Association.  (You may have seen a June 4, 2006 article in the Star Tribune regarding the community.) Sheila Craig, Community Sewage Treatment Facilitator, first worked with the community and formed a task force in the spring of 2004 that includes all the residents. The group is diligent in seeking ways to fix their old wastewater system that includes an old clay tile collection system and one 3000-gallon septic tank that leaves the liquid draining directly into Dobbins Creek.

Many options have been explored including individual septic systems. Unfortunately,
only two homes could become compliant with an individual standard septic system. The lots in the community are very small and the water table very high.  One location just to the north of the community was identified for a cluster drainfield only to find that the water table was too high to build a system and have it adequately treat the sewage. They are currently exploring a piece of property to the south of their community, but on the other side of the county road.

All the options for the cluster system have a high cost, so funds have been sought from a variety of sources.  Nicolville has qualified for both the Small Communities Funds and the TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) funds to improve small rural wastewater systems.  However, because of the delays in trying to find a suitable site, those funds may be in jeopardy.

Taopi

Taopi, first to receive “Small Community” Funding

Taopi is a small incorporated city of 22 homes in southern Mower County .  Currently a collective pipe is used for taking wastewater from the homes to the Upper Iowa River .  The City first appointed a Task Force in 2004, to work with Community Sewage Treatment Facilitator, Sheila Craig.  They explored several options and found that the least expensive would be Individual Sewage Treatment Systems (ISTS) with mound drainfields. 

Simultaneous to the exploration for appropriate treatment systems was the need for it to be a financially feasible solution.  Dollars from a Southeast Minnesota Wastewater Initiative grant provided 50% cost share grants for the exploration of homeowner’s lot sizes, well locations, and soils.  This grant was matched by City funds.

Having stalled in their search for funding, the City received a Notice of Violation from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) that their system to the river was considered to be an Imminent Threat to Public Health (ITPH) and needed to be fixed.

The City applied to the MPCA to get on the State Project Priority List (PPL) to be considered for State funding and was ranked 9th on the State listing of about 260 communities. They also applied to the two funding programs for small communities and were ultimately ranked 2^nd on the TMDL list and 3^rd on the Small Communities Wastewater Treatment Program list for funding. The City has also used 50% cost-share funds provided by a Southeast Minnesota Wastewater Initiative grant to provide the designs for the ISTS.  The City matched the funds thereby providing the designs at no cost to the residents. 

The project has been steadily moving forward with the ISTS designs being reviewed by staff with the University of Minnesota On-Site Sewage Treatment Program .  This service is also a grant the City received as part of the Small Communities Grant.  The designs have also been reviewed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency who then certified the project.  This is allowing the community to receive 75% grant funding for the project with the remainder of the funding available in a 1% interest loan.

Requests for bids are currently being sought for the project with construction scheduled for later this summer.

Granger

Granger is Complete!

Granger is a small community of about 30 homes on the Iowa border in Fillmore County .  A straight-pipe collection system carried the wastewater from 12 homes, a bank (now closed and used for storage) and a church to the Upper Iowa River . Another straight pipe carried waste from the local canned-milk creamery, also to the Upper Iowa River, but the pipe entered the river on the Iowa side.  The task force was first formed in the fall of 2003 to seek solutions.  Similar to other communities in SE Minnesota , a high water table challenges some of the properties.

Working with staff from the Fillmore County SWCD and Fillmore County , individual septic systems were found to be an answer for most.  The creamery and four other homes were able to install trench drainfields with the septic tank; two homes were solved with a mound drainfield system; the church, bank building, and three homes have holding tanks. One home burned and was not replaced and two others were rental properties that were disconnected from the line and are no longer rental properties. 

These properties were fixed using a combination of funding: a $300 grant from the Fillmore County Inventory project because they were Imminent Threats to Public Health, $450 from their own community sewer fund, and either the county AgBMP low interest loan, or their own funds.  Some properties had additional financial constraints and did not qualify for the AgBMP loans.  To help assist these properties, Fillmore County adopted a County Loan program that allows individuals who have been turned down by the bank to receive a loan that will be paid back as an assessment on their taxes.  This has allowed these properties to access the funds they needed. All livable homes now have a compliant septic system, making Granger a great success story for Southeastern Minnesota !

Fillmore County Inventory Project

Inventory Portion of Project is Complete

Fillmore County , located in the southeast corner of Minnesota with its county seat as Preston , has embarked on an MPCA pilot project to inventory all septic systems that are discharging untreated sewage onto the ground or into surface water. This type system is commonly known as a “straight-pipe” system and is defined as an Imminent Threat to Public Health (ITPH) by state law. The goal is for all of these systems to be upgraded by May 1, 2009. Homeowners are offered a $300 incentive payment to replace their imminent public health threat. To receive the $300 payment, they are also required to attend a workshop on operation and maintenance of their system sponsored by the county.

Staff from the County Zoning Department conducted the inventory township by township, visiting all rural residences except those with a septic system permit issued since 1996. The inventory has been completed with visits done in all 23 townships, plus those homes within small communities, but not on centralized sewer systems. 3904 sites have been visited and 548 ITPHs have been identified. Put another way, 14% of the sites visited have been identified as having a septic system classified as an ITPH or straight-pipe. So far, of the 548 ITPHs identified, 175 have been upgraded, which is really encouraging progress. The project is well on its way to achieve the goal of having all systems that are ITPH upgraded by May 1st, 2009.

Fillmore County is one of three counties in the state to receive a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to do a pilot septic system inventory. Normally counties do not have the staff or the financial resources to go out and look for straight-pipe systems house by house, township by township. The result is that old septic systems which do not treat sewage adequately and in some cases are Imminent Threats to Public Health are being upgraded very slowly. The grant dollars for the project helped to greatly increase the number of upgrades. With the success of Fillmore County ’s inventory, hopefully more funds will be available for other counties to embark on similar projects.