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Home My WebLink AboutOn-Site Sewage (OSS) and Septic Operations and Monitoring (OM) Programs (PDF)Jefferson County Public Health – Planned Performance Measures 2013 On- Site Sewage (OSS) & Septic Operations and Monitoring (O&M) Programs 1 of 4 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 2010 Actual 2011 Actual 2012 Actual 2012 Projected 2013 Projected 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. 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 Issue Press Releases about OSS training opportunities and general OSS info. Create OSS operation and maintenance information to be included in Monitoring Inspection reminders # of workshops and presentations # of Press Releases provided Statements/info created 19 -- -- 4 -- -- 4 -- -- 8 4 2 15 4 2 Goal 2: Assure a high quality- onsite sewage system monitoring program. Send Monitoring Inspection Reminders to property owners. Review monitoring and inspection reports, provide timely follow-up and coordinate with online submittal program data. Assure Local Sewage Management Plan is consistent with current status and practices. Create and send inspection reminders Develop procedure and standards to triage reports with corrective actions required. Review reports, triage, send follow-up letters/notices Update Local Sewage Management Plan to reflect progress and needed change # of reminders sent % of OSS receiving monitoring inspection Pass/Fail # reports reviewed # follow-up letters sent Pass/Fail -- 3.4 -- 463 -- -- -- 3.4 -- 469 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 2.8 -- 300 -- -- 3,000 4.4 PASS 600 90 PASS Jefferson County Public Health – Planned Performance Measures 2013 On- Site Sewage (OSS) & Septic Operations and Monitoring (O&M) Programs 2 of 4 Goal Objective Task Performance Measure 2010 Actual 2011 Actual 2012 Actual 2012 Projected 2013 Projected Goal 3: Assure high quality customer service. Improve tracking and time accounting for building permit application activities. Assure communication with applicants regarding building permit application status. Review building permit applications and document communication with client w/in 14 days of application receipt. % Building permit apps reviewed within 14 days. % of cases that require additional info from applicant. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 68% 70% 65% Goal 4: 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. Develop system to quantify response time for complaints within 30 days. Create a report to track response time. Pass/Fail Pass/Fail % OSS complaints investigated within 30 days. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 90% PASS PASS 90% Goal 5: 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 % of estimated existing 13,500 systems identified. 69 73% 100 74% -- 75% 35 76% 100 78% Goal 6: Implement the Homeowner Inspection Program adopted in code revisions May 2012 to comply with monitoring requirements under WAC 246-272A. Establish Homeowner Authorization program Establish online portal for monitoring inspection report submittal. Establish access to training programs (Septics 101 and 201) for homeowners to obtain authorization to complete monitoring inspections. Complete database upgrade incorporating all elements of Homeowner inspection Authorization. Link database to online report portal Provide trainings and link to online trainings. Respond to requests for authorization to inspect by homeowners Pass/fail Pass/fail # of homeowners who take in person and online trainings # of homeowners authorized # of homeowners that submit inspection reports. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 100 50 20 PASS PASS 200 100 50 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 – Planned Performance Measures 2013 On- Site Sewage (OSS) & Septic Operations and Monitoring (O&M) Programs 3 of 4 SUMMARY OF KEY FUNDING/SERVICE ISSUES: Tracking will be done with existing data systems to evaluate effectiveness of permitting and monitoring programs. Ongoing O&M activities will be funded through state and federal grants as well as the ‘filing’ fee that is submitted with monitoring inspection reports. Implementation will focus on implementing the code revisions adopted in May 2012 to allow homeowners to be trained, complete monitoring inspections and report results to meet state requirements for assurance that OSS system are functioning properly. Follow-up with homeowners on inspection results is critical to the understanding of how systems work and why maintenance and proper operation is important. A system for correspondence and follow-up is under development. We will conduct community outreach to increase awareness of the new requirements. An incentive program to assist homeowners in completing inspections and install access risers and monitoring ports will be available in 2013. Identification of previously unknown onsite sewage systems is ongoing as part of a project in the Marine Recovery Area (MRA) along the Hood Canal. The project will move forward the work identified in the Local Onsite Sewage Management Plan. The state requirement that all unknown systems be identified by 2012 was not met but we are pursuing the goal as resources permit. The Local Management Plan update will be completed in 2013. Onsite sewage permitting and staffing has declined due to the economic downturn of the past several years. The number of permits received dropped significantly in 2011 and 2012 from previous years. 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. Training and Round Table meetings continue on a regular basis with professionals certified by JCPH. These meetings assist in improving the quality of submittals and offer an opportunity to resolve questions about the codes and challenging site conditions. Jefferson County Public Health – Planned Performance Measures 2013 On- Site Sewage (OSS) & Septic Operations and Monitoring (O&M) Programs 4 of 4 1Number of applications does not equal approved permits, it includes cases created from monitoring inspection where no information was on file. 2 Based on estimated 13,500 systems in the County (from the Local Sewage Management Plan) 3 Represents cases created only as a result of a monitoring inspection consistent with past years. Additional systems were identified through sanitary surveys but do not get a full inspection and were not counted in this category. 4 Includes inspections where the only maintenance item identified was that the tank needed to be pumped. Previous years did not include this maintenance item. 515 systems were identified and observed via regular monitoring inspections, 85 systems were identified (and had some level of observation) via sanitary surveys and are sites where no previous records exist. A regular monitoring inspection will not be required unless problems are identified, the property sells or application is made for a building permit. PROGRAM VITAL STATISTICS 2008 Actual 2009 Actual 2010 Actual 2011 Actual 2012 Projected 2013 Projected Number of systems repaired/upgraded 32 32 37 31 38 40 Percent of system failures less than 5 years in use 0 0 0 0 0 0 Number of complaints received 42 43 52 36 50 45 Number of complaints closed 24 19 33 25 32 30 Number of septic permit applications submitted 1 231 169 158 118 120 140 Number of evaluations of existing system (EES) 295 255 463 469 300 600 Percent of existing systems receiving regular 3rd party monitoring. 2 2.2% 1.8% 3.4% 3.4% 2.8% 4.4% # of previously unknown systems having a monitoring inspection 15 9 10+ 595 15+855 35 100 Percent of monitoring inspections resulting in some maintenance needed. 29% 28% 56%4 68%4 29% 30% Percent of monitoring inspections resulting in required significant maintenance or repair. 12.5% 16% 18.7% 12.4% 15% 15% Percent of failures/major maintenance <2% <2% <2% <2% <2% <2% Number of educational workshops 6 5 19 4 15 15 Number of workshop participants 239 102 355 156 250 450