Which is Better?

It used to be pretty simple; in the old days if you wanted to build a house in an undeveloped area you would install an onsite septic system and wait for a treatment plant to get built.  However as research and development on septic systems has progressed we now have more choices.  We have also learned sewage treatment plants may not always be the best solution. 

Large scale collection/treatment plants do have their advantages.  Although you can design a septic system to circumvent almost any limiting factor, there is a point where the cost and practicality favors a treatment plant.  Areas of dense housing with extremely small lots are a prime example.  To put a home on a septic system with a lot the size of a postage stamp is not practical.  The same thing applies in areas with extremely aberrant site condition, e.g. slow draining soils, soils that drain too fast, no soil, high water tables, etc.     

However there are downsides to treatment plants.  The first is the financial requirements.  When people think of city sewer they think of the monthly bill.  But there is a lot more to it than the monthly fees, someone needs to pay to have that treatment plant built in the first place.  And that is only part of the construction costs. 

An even more expensive component is running the sewer mains through the community.   In new-construction areas it is relatively cheap because this can be done before the homes and roads are built.  But in developed areas it can be even more expensive than the plant itself because now you have to dig up paved roads, negotiate around existing utilities and structures, then repave it all (and let’s not forget the hassles of road construction).  Then you have the cost of hooking the individual homes up to those mains.

Maintenance, repairs and operational fees are another expenditure that goes unnoticed.  It’s not cheap to keep these plants going.  Even the pipes and lift stations out in the field require upkeep.

THERE IS MORE TO IT THAN THE FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS 

You also have to take into account the health risks.  Most believe that these highly mechanized plants do a perfect job of cleaning up wastewater.  If that were true they would be worth the investment, however this is not accurate.  Treatment plants reduce contaminates, not eliminate them completely.  This became glaringly apparent in Milwaukee Wisconsin in 1993 when a parasite called cryptosporidium got into the city water system and made more than 400,000 people ill and killed over 100.  The city upgraded their system to the tune of 80 million dollars but there are still no guarantees it won’t happen again.  Outbreaks of crypto in other cities (including 37 deaths in Las Vegas) have occurred as well.

Pollution and environmental damage is another part of the problem now being recognized.  These facilities are dealing with tremendous amounts of water often numbering in the millions of gallons per day.  The only practical way to get rid of this much water is to discharge into an existing body of water (river or ocean).  If the discharges were “clean” it wouldn’t be a problem but this is not the case.  These discharges not only contain parasites and viruses, they are often high in nutrients (nitrogen and phosphates). 

These nutrients are great for growing plants in the backyard but when you put them into a body of water it promotes plant and algae growth.  In coastal areas where the ecosystem is extremely fragile, this damage is having far reaching effects.  Coral reefs instead of growing are dying off and seafood/shellfish harvesting has been dropping, even banned in some areas.  Red tide outbreaks have been on the increase as well.  It’s not to say treatment facilities are responsible for all this damage but they are contributing to the problem. 

And just to show you this is not a trivial matter, in 2004 alone there were almost 20,000 closed beach days in the U.S. 

THE MONEY CAN TAINT THE PROCESS

Protecting the public and environment may be the initial goal, but one must realize sewage treatment is a business, a very profitable business.  Unfortunately it is a fact of life when large amounts of money are involved unethical, even illegal transactions can infiltrate the process.  

·        Running a city is not a hobby or a charity.  Cities need to make money if they are going to keep operating.  Treating wastewater generates money for the city (they don’t do it for free or to breakeven).  In some cases money may be the reason the city is pushing a centralized system, not what is in the best interests of the citizens. 

·        When a company is biding on a multimillion dollar project it is not unheard of to offer incentives (bribes and kickbacks) to ensure they are awarded the contract.    

·        Another tactic engineering firms use is bidding low to get public approval knowing that once the roads are dug-up and the building half constructed they can cite cost over-runs and the city will have to come up with the money to complete the project (does the big dig in Boston ring a bell.  2.5 billion was the original bid.  Now it tops 14 billion).

·        Omitting costs is another ploy often used.  The city or engineering firms will tell the citizens how much the plant will cost and what their share will be, but then conveniently forget to mention the additional expenditures of running the sewer mains and/or hooking into that system.  Many learn of these costs after the project has started and it is too late to vote it down.        

·        Overdevelopment is another problem that follows sewage treatment facilities.  Build a place to dump sewage and soon the big real estate developers are swarming the area building high-rise apartments, condos and hotels.  In fact a common tactic developer’s use is to approach the city councils with a plan to build high-rise condos, hotels and shopping malls and tout the millions of dollars in tax revenue this project will bring.  However this is contingent on the city building a treatment plant to service this project.  The city sees the tax dollars and pushes the existing residents to pay for a treatment plant.  And with a treatment plant available more developers start moving in and within a few years that facility is overloaded and needs to be expanded requiring more money (from the people that are on that system).    

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fines that sewage treatment facilities/cities get hit with when they exceed the allowable limits the EPA has determined safe.  Cities can and do get fined millions of dollars when they get caught.  One west coast city was fined 36 million dollars in just one occurrence.  And who pays for these fines…the taxpayers and people that use that plant.

Septic systems

In the old days the purpose of onsite systems was to dispose of wastewater.  The main concern at that time was people coming in direct contact with this nasty stuff, so they dug those systems deep.  The problem was these systems were so deep they were often flushing right into the shallow underground water tables that fed the lakes, rivers and oceans (non-point pollution).  Over the last 4 decades numerous studies have proven this was and still is a genuine problem.  But at the same time the health depts. and universities that identified this problem began developing solutions. 

Today the lowly septic system has evolved to the degree that when properly designed, installed and maintained, they will treat wastewater better than most multimillion dollar treatment plants.  But there are drawbacks to septic systems and believe it or not, it isn’t the systems…it’s the people that use them. 

THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DISPOSAL SYSTEM AND A TREATMENT SYSTEM.   

Tell someone they need to put in a new $12,000 septic system and the first thing they will say is, “Why?  My toilet flushes fine…never even had a backup.  I’m not going to spend money on something I don’t need.”  But it is not about if the toilet flushes…it’s where that toilet flushes to is the question.  And because we are talking about a major investment the opposition soon follows.

The other obstacle is getting homeowners to maintain their systems.  For some reason people are under the impression you should never have to do anything to a septic system…it should be completely free.  Sorry, anything you own is going to need some kind of maintenance.  However you can generally overcome both of these barriers with education.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO BECOME INVOLVED WITH THE DECISION TO BUILD A TREATMENT PLANT

When Wal-Mart wants to move into an area, it’s Wal-Mart that buys the land, constructs the building, stocks it with products, then opens the doors for business to generate profits to payback the investment.  In other words, it’s Wal-Mart’s money that pays for it and if they don’t do it right it’s Wal-Mart that takes the financial loss.  

It’s far different when a city starts a project like this.  It’s your money that pays for the property and construction of the plant/sewer mains.  And if it doesn’t work it’s your money that goes down the drain.  And the truth is it’s a few people at the top that make the choice for everybody and the citizens go along thinking they have no say in the matter. 

As the taxpayer you do have the right and a voice in the decisions your public officials are making.  After all, you elected them to represent you, not private industry (developers and engineering firms).  And because it is not just your money but the environmental impact it will have on your future, you have the responsibility to get involved.     

So which is better?  This is where you [the citizens] must do your homework.  You need to gather all of the costs/environmental impacts and weigh the benefits of each before you make a choice.              

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