HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 OSS&OMJefferson County Public Health Performance Measures
2016 Year-end Report
ONSITE SEWAGE (OSS) and SEPTIC OPERATIONS & MONITORING (O&M) PROGRAMS
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PROGRAMS: Onsite Sewage (OSS) Permitting and Onsite Operations and Monitoring (O&M) Programs
MISSION: The mission of the Onsite Sewage Program is to minimize the threat of surface and ground water contamination from failing or improperly designed,
installed or maintained onsite sewage systems. The mission of the Operation and Monitoring Program is to protect public health by ensuring onsite sewage systems are
monitored, identify failures, and items that may lead to costly premature failures of OSS that contaminate ground and surface waters.
GOAL OBJECTIVE TASK PERFORMANCE
MEASURE
2011
ACTUAL
2012
ACTUAL
2013
ACTUAL
2014
ACTUAL
2015
ACTUAL
2016
PLANNED
2016
ACTUAL
GOAL 1:
Educate
homeowners,
builders, real
estate
personnel,
banks,
installers,
designers and
onsite system
maintenance
personnel in
the proper
operation and
maintenance
of onsite
sewage
systems
(OSS)
Develop written
informational
materials and conduct
workshops for the
public addressing
OSS operation and
maintenance, program
incentives for initial
inspection, installation
of monitoring access
risers and homeowner
inspection program
Provide training to
community groups to
increase awareness of
OSS regulatory
requirements
Conduct OSS
operations and
maintenance
needs and
requirements
workshops for
homeowners &
professionals
# of workshops and
presentations
4 4 20 4 10 6 7
Issue press
releases about
OSS training
opportunities
and general
OSS info
# of press releases
provided -- -- 6 4 5 10 4
Create OSS
operation and
maintenance
information to
be included in
Monitoring
Inspection
Reminders
Statements/info
created
--
--
4 4 7 12 15
GOAL 2:
Ensure a high
quality-onsite
sewage
system
monitoring
program
Send Monitoring
Inspection Reminders
to property owners
Create and send
inspection
reminders
# of reminders sent --
--
800 0 4,980 5,000 2,375 see
summary
Jefferson County Public Health Performance Measures
2016 Year-end Report
ONSITE SEWAGE (OSS) and SEPTIC OPERATIONS & MONITORING (O&M) PROGRAMS
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GOAL OBJECTIVE TASK PERFORMANCE
MEASURE
2011
ACTUAL
2012
ACTUAL
2013
ACTUAL
2014
ACTUAL
2015
ACTUAL
2016
PLANNED
2016
ACTUAL
Review monitoring
and inspection
reports, provide
timely follow-up and
coordinate with online
submittal program
data
Increase
percentage of
OSS receiving
required
monitoring
inspection.
% of OSS receiving
monitoring
inspection
3.4% 3.8% 4.7% 5.1% 7.8% 6% 14.4%
Review reports,
triage, send
follow-up
letters/notices
# reports reviewed -- -- 641 685 1060 800 980
# follow-up letters
sent -- -- 154 156 168 200 157
Create an equitable
funding mechanism to
support the OSS
Operations and
Monitoring Program
Evaluate
funding
mechanism to
fund O&M
Program.
Adopt fee to support
program PASS
GOAL 3:
Investigate
complaints
and action
requests in a
timely
manner to
reduce the
threat of
human
contact with
untreated
wastewater
Utilize existing data
systems to track
action requests and
complaints1
Report
complaint
investigation
response
% OSS complaints
investigated within
30 days
90% 94% 98% 90% 96%
GOAL 4:
Document all
onsite sewage
systems in
Jefferson
County
Identify previously
unknown onsite
sewage systems
Complete
sanitary surveys
to move sites
served by OSS
from unknown
to known status
# of systems
identified 100 107 204 69 107 120 76
See
summary
% of estimated
existing 13,500
systems identified
74% 75% 78% 78.5% 79.2% 80% 81.5%
Jefferson County Public Health Performance Measures
2016 Year-end Report
ONSITE SEWAGE (OSS) and SEPTIC OPERATIONS & MONITORING (O&M) PROGRAMS
3
GOAL OBJECTIVE TASK PERFORMANCE
MEASURE
2011
ACTUAL
2012
ACTUAL
2013
ACTUAL
2014
ACTUAL
2015
ACTUAL
2016
PLANNED
2016
ACTUAL
GOAL 5:
Implement
the
Homeowner
Inspection
Program
adopted in
code
revisions
May 2012 to
comply with
monitoring
requirements
under WAC
246-272A
Establish access to
training programs
(Septics 101 and 201)
for homeowners to
obtain authorization
to complete
monitoring
inspections
Provide
trainings and
link to online
trainings
# of homeowners
who take in person
and online trainings
-- 410 81 251 200 591
Respond to
requests for
authorization to
inspect by
homeowners
# of homeowners
authorized
-- 192 75 147 150 354
Provide
trainings and
link to online
trainings
# of homeowners
that submit
inspection reports
-- 15 3 66 100 216
1 Complaints include all reports from the public and others regarding onsite sewage issues. These range from reports of someone parking or driving on their
drainfield, living on property without a permitted septic system to surfacing sewage.
Jefferson County Public Health Performance Measures
2016 Year-end Report
ONSITE SEWAGE (OSS) and SEPTIC OPERATIONS & MONITORING (O&M) PROGRAMS
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SUMMARY OF KEY FUNDING/SERVICE ISSUES:
Tracking is done with existing data systems to evaluate effectiveness of permitting and monitoring programs. During 2016, the BOH was provided with O&M program
costs, activities and funding information that resulted in November adoption of revisions to JCC 8.15 (the Onsite Sewage Code) and a fee to fund ongoing O&M
activities identified in the measures above. This replaces the ‘filing’ fee that was required when a monitoring inspection report was submitted, and dwindling state and
federal grant dollars that funded the program in previous years. Implementation is focused on: sending site specific inspection reminders, follow-up with homeowners on
inspection results, training and providing resources to homeowners. Follow-up with homeowners on inspection results is critical to the understanding of how systems
work and why maintenance and proper operation is important. The incentive program to assist homeowners in completing inspections and installing access risers and
monitoring ports was available through the fall of 2016.
Overall, permit activity has increased 74% since 2011 with little change to staffing resources. In 2016 we added staff hours to support septic system installation
inspection and permit completion to improve customer satisfaction and efficiency. The team continues to strive to maintain effective communication with our clients and
partners (other state and local departments) to effectively manage workload and requests for information while diligently reviewing and enforcing county code and
policies.
2016 STUDY/ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
Septic system monitoring
Homeowner Authorization
‘Classroom’ trainings continue on a regular basis, at least once a year to accommodate those who prefer that style of learning.
All classes include information on funding available for repair or upgrade of an OSS as well as the rebate program for access riser and monitoring inspection.
These have been very well received.
Access to a database administrator remains extremely limited which hampers our ability to be more responsive to needed changes in the program. Internet
speed is still an issue in many areas of the county.
System Identification, Reminders and Incentives
The incentive/rebate program for access risers for the first monitoring inspection by a professional was available until September of 2016. We will continue to
seek funding for incentives to inspect or install risers and expect the interest to increase when we start sending regular reminders to property owners.
The number of previously unknown systems includes both systems identified via a sanitary survey and pump reports. Sanitary Surveys concentrate on
shoreline areas and most of the systems alone shorelines have been identified. Septic Tank Pump reports will be a larger proportion of unknown systems in the
future.
The capacity of monitoring inspection providers reduced the number of site specific inspection reminders we sent during the year. We found that a maximum
of 500 reminders every 2 – 3 months is their capacity based on the response rate of property owners. Over 50% of property owners had an inspection done in
response to the reminders.
Jefferson County Public Health Performance Measures
2016 Year-end Report
ONSITE SEWAGE (OSS) and SEPTIC OPERATIONS & MONITORING (O&M) PROGRAMS
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Septic System Operation - Monitoring Inspection Follow-up and Complaint Investigation
A triage was developed for follow-up letters where deficiencies are identified. Response to these follow-up letters has been excellent and offers an opportunity
to give additional information to new property owners. Additionally, letters were sent to 69 property owners that did not complete a monitoring inspection
prior to property transfer.
Results from monitoring inspections or complaint investigation- 108 Follow-up inspections by O&M providers were submitted to the online inspection
database to document correction of deficiencies/problems that they observed. This is down slightly from 2015.
Process Management and Planning
We are maintaining a list of changes and updates needed to the Local Management Plan as well as identifying successes. Focus remains on identifying all onsite
sewage systems and assuring they are current with the monitoring inspection requirements.
A system to track the response time to complaints was developed but is not consistently used. Staff training is ongoing.
Septic Permit Applications/cases
The number of permits received is substantially above 2015, approximately 20% more. We currently have one FTE carrying primary responsibility for all
new and repair septic permit applications. A sustained increase in the permit load necessitated reallocating staff, approximately .35 FTE to maintain timeliness
in permit review and issuance.
PROGRAM STATISTICS
PERMITS 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
# of septic permit applications submitted 1 231 169 158 118 147 148 156 163 205
# of Monitoring Inspections/evaluations of
existing system (EES)
295 255 463 469 511 641 781 1060 1941
# of systems repaired/upgraded 32 32 37 31 43 40 46 43 42
% of system failures less than 5 years in use 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
% of failures/major maintenance identified by
Professionals
<2% <2% <2% <2% <2% <2% <4% 5% 6%
# of complaints received* 42 43 52 36 20 60 52 109 67
# of complaints closed** 24 19 33 25 26 25 43 42 166
# of Installers Certified 37 37 36 34 31 31 27 27
OPERATION, MAINTANANCE &
MONITORING 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
% of existing systems receiving monitoring
inspection. 2
2.20% 1.80% 3.40% 3.40% 3.80% 4.7% 5.1% 7.8% 14.4%
# of previously unknown systems having a
monitoring inspection
15 9 10+ 594 15+ 854 14+934 204 69 107 19 + 834
Jefferson County Public Health Performance Measures
2016 Year-end Report
ONSITE SEWAGE (OSS) and SEPTIC OPERATIONS & MONITORING (O&M) PROGRAMS
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% of monitoring inspections resulting in some
maintenance needed.
29% 28% 56%5 68%5 59%5 63%5 63%5 64% 57%
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
# of educational workshops 6 5 19 4 9 20 4 10 7
# of workshop participants – live + online 239 102 355 156 220 410 131 354 237 + 354
* Includes COM cases created when violation identified during a sanitary survey.
**The number of Closed complaints can be greater than Received because cases from previous years may have been closed during the current year.
1Number of applications does not equal approved permits
2 Based on estimated 13,500 systems in the County (from the Local Sewage Management Plan)
4The first number indicates systems that were identified and observed via regular monitoring inspections. The second number indicates systems that were identified (and had some level of
observation) via sanitary surveys or pump report and are sites where no previous records exist.
5 Includes inspections where the only maintenance item identified was that the tank needed to be pumped. Previous to 2010 did not include this maintenance item.
231
169 158 118 147 148 156 163 205
15
9 10
15
15 10 8 16
19
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
SEPTIC CASES CREATED
Septic Permit Applications Monitoring Inspection Only
295 255
463 469 511
641
781
1060
1941
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Monitoring Inspections Completed