According to the law of gravity, what goes up must come down. According to the law of sewage, what goes down will keep going down unless something stops it.
That, in the most elementary form, is what the controversy over southern Deschutes County septic systems is all about.
There are something like 6,400 homes in the LaPine/Sunriver area that are not hooked into any sewer system. Those homes rely on septic systems – basically tanks in the ground that hold the noxious gunk until it can be pumped out. Some of those tanks – nobody is sure how many – leak.
Because the water table in South County is so shallow – as little as eight feet under the surface in some places – leaky septic tanks have the potential to let some really nasty stuff get into the groundwater. That nasty stuff includes nitrates, chemicals made when bacteria interact with organic waste to combine nitrogen with oxygen.
High levels of nitrates in drinking water cause serious health problems, especially for infants. Nitrates make rivers sick too: They nourish an excessive growth of algae, which starves the water of oxygen, which in turn can wipe out insects, fish and other aquatic life.
The risk isn’t just theoretical. Scientists have been studying the situation in South County for years, and have found elevated levels of nitrates in well water there. A year ago the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality sent the county a letter warning of a public health hazard if something isn’t done.
And the risk isn’t just to South County residents. Nitrates that seep into the groundwater there eventually would find their way into the Little Deschutes and Deschutes Rivers, as well as the rest of the area’s underground aquifer.
The county commissioners responded to the DEQ’s warning by writing something called the “local rule.” It requires South County residents who have septic systems to upgrade to nitrate-reducing waste treatment systems or take other steps to prevent nitrate pollution, such as installing composting toilets. The deadline for this to happen is 2022.
South County residents don’t like that idea at all, and they responded by forcing a March 10 special election to try to repeal the local rule. A “yes” vote on the ballot measure means the rule will go into effect; a “no” vote will block it.
Fixing the nitrate problem will cost the people of South County money. That’s unfortunate, but unavoidable. The county is sympathetic to their problem and has offered financial assistance. It also has given them 14 years to comply, a timeline that seems more than ample.
Opponents of the local rule say the county is acting in haste – that officials need to take more time to study the problem. But the problem has been studied and the evidence is in: Nitrates are in the groundwater now. Waiting for the situation to get worse would have been a dereliction of duty by the county commissioners.
And repealing the local rule would be a dereliction of duty by Deschutes County voters. Voting “yes” on this measure is the only rational and responsible thing to do.
This article appears in Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2009.
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Septic systems have been used for many many years and are completely safe. Please do your own research and don’t just blindly follow the big business approach to the issue. To say that the cost is “unfortunate” boils my blood. What will be “unfortunate” will be when the uninformed Deschutes residents vote yes and are forced to absorb the additional cost that will be incurred when these residents walk away from these properties. And mind you they will. They have nothing to loose now and this is the final straw. These septic systems, many of which have been tested as completely safe within the last 5 years, are completely safe. Do you think these people all who have wells for their water source would drink their water if it wasn’t safe? NONSENSE. The water has been tested, the septics have been tested. If you are so sure they need to be replaced then pay for it yourself. Put your own money on the line instead of making decisions for them. Put up or shut up. This is ludicrous. Vote No
Save your yourselves a lot of money and help them save their homes.
You are very misinformed. What is “unfortunate” is that the county set the parameters for these septic systems and now has decided to default on those parameters. These septic systems meet or exceed all parameters set by the regulators. I agree with the above post. This will be financially disastrous for the county as well as the citizens. Assistance is not needed…paying for your own perceived mistake is. Vote yes and pay for it yourself…all of it
Deschutes County residents can not afford a yes vote. Vote NO.
I agree whole heartedly with the above comments. These septic systems are not a valid issue. Requiring residents to replace previously approved systems is a waste of money. These systems are not an environmental hazard. If approved this measure will cause such an unnecessary burden on already depressed home owner markets. I’m voting no. You have to look at it as if you were one of the ones affected not as “them”. These are our people who will be loosing their houses due to an increased debt that can not be met. Low cost loans will not help in the Least! If you want to correct your perceived mistake then be ready to pay for it yourself. Believe me, you will.
The USGS study that is refered to by the County and in the Local Rule has hard constraints that indicate that there will be no contamination of drinking water wells in Sunriver and Bend. Your community water sources are not in danger. Bend is putting more pollutants into the water through storm water runoff than South County is at this point.
Nitrates can not migrate through suboxic water and get to those deep wells. Good Grief!
This contamination will not occur for at least 50 years and might not even occur for 140 years. We have time to address the entire basins health. Even when the contamination occurs at equillibrium 78 percent is naturally denitrified and of the remaining 22 percent much of it will be picked up in the riparian zone of the river. One of the biggest reasons not to vote for this rule is the County not protecting the solution fund that will be developed through land sales and PRC’s. They have suggested using those funds elsewhere. If you are going to write about an issue at least hear both sides.
Either way the vote goes be sure to let the County Commissioners know that the use of the solution fund for any other purpose than nitrate mitigation is unacceptable.
League of Women Voters Forum is March 3rd at the Bend Library. Hear both sides and then decide.
Robert Ray
lol…Well, you got one thing right: “what goes down will keep going down unless something stops it.” But it is not that simple. Have you heard of oxic and suboxic layers of water? It seems the Earth has a way to deal with nitrates. Once they descend 20 to 50 feet into an aquifer, they hit a suboxic layer, and convert to something else. End of problem. It’s in the USGS report. Look it up. You can find the facts on the CAG website: http://www.dccitizensactiongroup.org/index.html
While you are there, read the full Mother Earth article written about the move to manipulate the ecology movement to support the installation of these over-priced and over-rated nitrogen reduction systems. It is a real eye-opener.
Like Rumsfeld said, “there are things we know and things we think we know. There are things we know that we don’t know and things we think we know that we don’t know…” I, and the rest of CAG, have been studying this septic issue for two years. Along the way, we have discovered more facts about the septic issue than one would ever likely encounter in a lifetime… more than I want to know, frankly.
My conclusion is that, of course, old, rusted out septic systems need to be replaced. We replaced ours as soon as we moved to La Pine with a thousand gallon concrete septic system which does not pollute. In the future, however, other chemicals will have to be addressed, such as pharmaceuticals. This is a nation-wide problem. CAG suggests a comprehensive, sustainable plan to deal with this issue. The county’s proposed systems do not.
So, until then, we must vote NO so as not to waste our resources on a plan which misses the mark and is too expensive to install or maintain for most of us.
Once more we are seeing irresponsible editorials in the public papers. I have no objections to editorial taking one stance or another, but a distortion of facts and omission of pertinent information is inexcusable. The above comments pretty much cover the specifics of the original article.
If your really interested in a fairly comprhensive article on the subject of septic systems go to:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-
Homesteading/2008-02-01/Truth-About-
Septic-Systems.aspx
This will get you started on a learning curve on the subject.
Make them test them every two years. It should be a county requirement that if they are not tested, replaced and or fixed that they home is condemned as it affects all of us. We do not need to have water conditions like Tijuana even though some of the areas down there look like TJ.
I have over 20 trees (some 16″+ DBH and 100″ tall) that have roots in and under the drainfield sucking up nitrates. The water table at my house is 84′ not 8 feet. If I was in Bend I would be more worried about the septic systems in Dechutes river woods and along the river out of town. These new systems only deal with nitrates so in a couple of years is the county going to make us put in another system? I agree there is a problem but lets fix the whole problem not one part at a time. I did note the model calculated using the growth rate at the time of the study, if this is a problem why not stop growth unless the houses at hooked up to a sewer system.
Another bias uneducated remark that has no merit,from the source people with no clue on the workings of a septic system. Source you haven’t a clue!!!!
Boycott you do not know what your talking about! until you do quit posting.
What is wrong with installing composting toilets? They are not expensive, are just as clean as using current septic systems and used in conjunction with septic systems will keep nitrates from our wells and aquifer. Regarding the above post, our aquifer is up to 50′ above the suboxic layer, so nitrates are NOT filtered out. In fact, nitrates already EXCEED safe levels in some LaPine homes. Installing a composting toilet is the least expensive way to do to protect the lives of babies, the elderly and the health of those with chronic conditions. The death of one baby to blue baby syndrome is not worth forgoing that vacation to install proper sanitation. Some here think it is, but it is not. Instead of arguing against the inevitable look for inexpensive alternatives to filthy waste contaminating our drinking water.