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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOn-Site Sewage (OSS) and Septic Operations and Monitoring (O and M) Programs (PDF)JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH – PLANNED PERFORMANCE MEASURES 2015 ONSITE SEWAGE PROGRAM (OSS) 1 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 Projected 2015 Planned 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 # of workshops and presentations 4 4 20 13 10 Issue press releases about OSS training opportunities and general OSS info # of press releases provided -- -- 6 4 18 Create OSS operation and maintenance information to be included in Monitoring Inspection Reminders Statements/info created -- -- 2 2 6 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 -- -- Approx. 800 4,000 4,000 Review monitoring and inspection reports, provide timely follow-up and coordinate with online submittal program data Develop procedure and standards to triage reports with corrective actions required % of OSS receiving monitoring inspection 3.4% 3.8% 4.7% 6% 6% Pass/Fail -- -- PASS PASS PASS Review reports, triage, send follow-up letters/notices # reports reviewed -- -- 641 800 800 # follow-up letters sent -- -- 154 150 175 Ensure Local Sewage Management Plan is consistent with current status and practices Update Local Sewage Management Plan to reflect progress and needed Pass/Fail -- -- FAIL PASS PASS JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH – PLANNED PERFORMANCE MEASURES 2015 ONSITE SEWAGE PROGRAM (OSS) 2 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 Develop system to quantify response time for complaints within 30 days Pass/Fail -- -- FAIL PASS PASS Create a report to track response time Pass/Fail -- -- FAIL PASS PASS % OSS complaints investigated within 30 days -- -- Unkn2 90% 90% 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 100 107 204 120 120 % of estimated existing 13,500 systems identified 74% 75% 78% 78% 78.5 Goal 5: Implement the Homeowner Inspection Program adopted in code revisions May 2012 to comply with monitoring requirements under WAC 246- 272A Establish Homeowner Authorization program Complete database upgrade incorporating all elements of Homeowner Inspection Authorization Pass/fail -- -- PASS PASS PASS Establish online portal for monitoring inspection report submittal Link database to online report portal Pass/fail -- -- PASS PASS PASS 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 -- -- 410 200 200 Respond to requests for authorization to inspect by homeowners # of homeowners authorized -- -- 192 150 150 # of homeowners that submit inspection reports -- -- 15 50 150 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. 2 A system to track the response time is in development. JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH – PLANNED PERFORMANCE MEASURES 2015 ONSITE SEWAGE PROGRAM (OSS) 3 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 has been implemented and we have had good response with follow-up reports and corrections. We developed a method to track ‘transfer of title’ and will continue to notify those who did not have a monitoring inspection that one is required. We will conduct community outreach to increase awareness of the new requirements and send out site specific reminders when monitoring inspections are due. An incentive program to assist homeowners in completing inspections and install access risers and monitoring ports will be continue to be available in 2015. Work to implement the online Homeowner Septic System Inspection Authorization has continued in 2014 and is nearly ready for use. Staff have continued to take the Septics 101 and 201 ‘on the road’ to meet the desire of homeowners to obtain the inspection authorization. This has been positively received and we are working actively to resolve the issues and make the online program available to all. With the roll out of the online program we expect to offer fewer ‘in person’ classes and expect an increased use of the web based program. 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 continue to 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. Revised and new elements of the Local On-site Sewage Management Plan will continue to be implemented in 2015 as identified in the plan. 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 2010 and 2011 from previous years. A small uptick in activity occurred in 2012 but was not continued into 2013. At mid-year 2014 are very slightly above the 2013 numbers. The proportion of repair permit applications to new has increased over the last several years (from 14% of total applications to 29%) We observe that the time involved in bringing these repairs to a successful conclusion is much greater than for new cases. 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. Coordination with our Environmental Health Tech is assisting staff in timely review and documentation of activities in the database. 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 2015 ONSITE SEWAGE PROGRAM (OSS) 4 PROGRAM STATISTICS PERMITS 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Projected 2015 Projected # of septic permit applications submitted 1 169 158 118 147 148 148 155 # of systems repaired/upgraded 32 37 31 43 40 40 45 % of system failures less than 5 years in use 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 # of complaints received 43 52 36 20 60 45 45 # of complaints closed* 19 33 25 26 25 30 30 # of Installers Certified 37 37 36 34 31 34 31 OPERATION, MAINTANANCE & MONITORING 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Projected 2015 Projected # of evaluations of existing system (EES) 255 463 469 511 641 641 650 % of existing systems receiving regular O&M Inspections.2 1.80% 3.40% 3.40% 3.80% 4.7% 4.8% 4.8 % of existing systems known, with records. 2 73% 74% 75% 77.7% 77.8% 78.5 # of O & M inspections for previously unknown systems 9 10 15 14 15 120 100 # of previously unknown systems found due to Water Quality sanitary surveys 59 85 93 204 200 150 % of monitoring inspections resulting in some maintenance needed. 28% 56%4 68%4 59%4 63%4 60% 60% % of monitoring inspections resulting in required significant maintenance or repair. 16% 18.70% 12.40% 18.50% 13% 15% 17% % of monitoring inspections that identified system failure <2% <2% <2% <2% <2% <2% <2% EDUCATION AND OUTREACH 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Projected 2015 Projected # of educational workshops 5 19 4 9 20 13 10 # of workshop participants 102 355 156 220 410 300 200 *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) 3Number of workshops includes 5 Septics 101 classes and 4 public workshops on proposed code revisions and homeowner inspection authorization program. 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. 514 systems were identified and observed via regular monitoring inspections, 93 systems were identified (and had some level of observation) via sanitary surveys and are sites where no previous records exist.