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Erie County Department of Health www.ecdh.orgErie County Department of Health www.ecdh.org

ERIE COUNTY

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Melissa C. Lyon, MPH

Director

Kathy Dahlkemper

County Executive

Small Scale Sewage Treatment

In Erie County, PA


On-lot Septic Program Staff• 2 Sewage Enforcement Officers

- West County served by Pete Homchenko 814-451-6756

- Albion, Conneaut, Cranesville, Edinboro, Elk, Fairview, Franklin, Girard, Lake City,

McKean, Millcreek, Platea, and Washington

- East County served by Josh Skopow 814-451-6763

- Amity, Concord, Corry, Elgin, Greene, Greenfield, Harborcreek, Lawrence Park, Mill

Village, Le Boeuf, North East, Union, Union City, Venango, Waterford, Wattsburg

and Wayne

• 1 Clerical Staff: Claudia Woodard

• Grant Funded Position: Mike Chizewick

- Inspection and education of Small Flow Treatment Facilities for the

entire county

• Supervisor: Ron Salisbury


Why Isn’t Everyone Connected to a

Municipal or Large Scale Sewage

Treatment PlantoThe simple answer is COST!!!

-The collection and treatment of sewage is not cheap so

the most cost effective thing to do is to spread those costs

over a large population.

-Large scale or municipal sewage systems are usually

installed where the population density is greatest which

leaves rural properties to fend for themselves.

This is where On-lot Septic Systems come into play…


On-lot Disposal Systems (OLDS)

also known as On-lot Septic Systems


• First of all, the On-lot Sewage Regulation have only been around

since the late 1960’s so there a lot of on-lot systems out there in Erie

County that were installed that are no longer meet the current code:

Cesspools

Gravel filled pits

Discharges to old wells

Unpermitted direct discharges to streams/ditches including black

and grey water

Major components of a conventional On-lot Septic

What is a On-lot Septic System?


• Our staff process over 230 applications On-lot Septic

Applications per year.

Soil Evaluation

• The Limiting Zone is:

• Water• Depth to Water Table

• Depth to Seasonal High Water Table (Mottling)

• Slowly Permeable Zones• Depth to Bedrock

• Depth to Clay or Fragipan

• Zone of Poor Water/Soil Contact• Depth to zone of fractured rock, gravel, loose rock fragments

How do I get one? The Application

Process


Perc Rate

• Run Perc Test

• Put water in hole and

monitor its infiltration.

• Have Soil Scientist

evaluate the soil.


Conventional Beds & Trenches

• Soil Conditions:• Limiting Zone 72 inches.

• Perc. Rate: 6 to 90 min/in.

12 to 24 inch backfill

48 inches

12 in aggregate

72 inches


5/8/2017

Elevated Sand Mound:

• Soil Conditions:

• Limiting Zone 60 inches; 20 inches.

• Perc. Rate: 3 to 120 min/in.

12 in aggregate

Top & Berm

60 inches; 20 inches

SAND


• Permit = approval of design and plot plan

- Followed by the installation of the septic system under the

inspection of the SEO.

• Denial of the Soils

- Application for SFTF

- Unbuildable property

After the Application


Malfunctions


What is a Small Flow Treatment Facility?

(SFTF)

An individual or community sewerage system designed to

adequately treat sewage flows not greater than 2,000 gpd

for final disposal using a stream discharge or other disposal

methods approved by the Department.


When does someone install a SFTF?

●After soil evaluations determine that the property can’t be

approved for any other standard in-ground septic system

●If there is a stream or drainage swale on the property to

discharge into (or on neighbor’s property with easement)

●After obtaining a two permits from the Department of

Environmental Protection

NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) for

discharging and WQM (Water Quality Management) for construction

and operations.


ECDH Oversight Program●Provides a means by which municipalities can satisfy the DEP regulation governing SFTFs that requires the establishment of specific O & M requirements.

Every township in Erie County signed on to our program, except

Elk Creek Township

●Provides education to individual home and business owners on their responsibilities as an SFTF owner as well as specific O & M procedures required to properly maintain their system.

●Tracking of reporting requirements

●Conduct annual inspections by ECDH, if possible

●Follow up inspections to ensure system compliance

●Annual compliance reports sent to DEP and Municipalities


How many SFTFs are in Erie County?

-Total number of permits issued in Erie County currently = 442

SYSTEMS CONSTRUCTED

YES 389

NO 53

TOTAL 442


SFTF’s in Operation by Year


Treatment Methods and New Technology

TREATMENT TYPE # OF SYSTEMS

BIOFILTER (PEAT/COCO) 17

FREE ACCESS SAND 4

NORWECO BIO-KINETIC 18

RECIRCULATING SAND FILTER 107

SUBSURFACE SAND FILTER 296


SFTF locations in Erie County: GIS Mapping


GIS Utility

-SFTF locations in Greene, Greenfield, Harborcreek, Millcreek, Summit, and Venango Townships. Displayed

here; aerial imagery, roads, hydrology, and municipal boundary layers become useful tools.


GIS UtilitySFTF locations in Mckean, Franklin, Washington, and Waterford Townships shown utilizing watershed layers to delineate

small and large watersheds. Lake Erie watershed discharges are displayed in yellow. Allegheny watershed discharges are

displayed in red.


Program Challenges:

• Systems have many violations and malfunctions so they need training and frequent monitoring;

robust program needed

• Together the systems pose a significant impact on local water quality

• Office of the Great Lakes is seeking information on their impact on nutrient loading; mapping grant

awarded.

• ECDH does not have the staff to inspect these facilities; two SEOs already have a heavy workload

• Previously staff were pulled from other programs and a per diem was hired.

• Frequent property sales lead to need for education of real estate community, new property owners,

and contractors.

PERMIT NEED TRANSFERRED?

YES 33

NO 409


Common Reporting Violations

Failure to submit AMR-Annual Maintenance Reports or late submittal (220 systems)

Failure to submit DMR-Discharge Monitoring Reports or late submittal**Note: permittees are required to monitor disinfection levels monthly and report annually.


Common Operation & Maintenance

Violations

-Disinfection- High or low chlorine levels or non operational UV bulb = 60 systems

-Component Maintenance- Failure to pump septic tanks, broken pumps, broken pipes,

plugged pipes, plugged sand, failure to maintain disinfection unit, discharging raw or

partially treated sewage to the surface of the ground or into waterways.


Common Malfunctions


Future Work

• Continuing work will include:

• Hosting workshops for permittees, municipalities, realtors, and

contractors

• Obtaining effluent samples for almost a third of the constructed

systems in the county.

• Refocusing additional inspections and monitoring to those systems

found to be out of compliance or have effluent limitation

exceedances.

• Maintaining the new GIS geodatabase with current inspection and

compliance information as well as new permit and facility

information.

• Producing reports utilizing the new database and comparing results

on an annual bases to determine the efficacy of the program.


Thank you for your time

• Contact Information:

Ron T. Salisbury

Environmental Supervisor

Erie County Department of Health

606 West 2nd Street

Erie, PA 16507

814-451-6776

[email protected]

Michael Chizewick

SFTF Inspector

Erie County Department of Health

606 West 2nd Street

Erie, PA 16507

814-451-6759

[email protected]

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