This is the second in a series of articles regarding the area’s septic issues.
BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD — A failed septic system could cost homeowners their time, money and health.
Last week, John Mele, a former mayor of Upper Freehold who has worked in the wastewater field for more than 20 years, described how an on-site septic works and gave advice for maintaining a system. This week, he explains how significant an investment a septic system is.
In township’s like Upper Freehold and Millstone, where most homes and commercial buildings use on-site septics, Mele said many people may need information about their systems.
A failed septic system, according to Mele, could cost between $8,000 and $20,000 to repair or replace.
“The holding/septic tank is the simple component and in most cases does not need repair or replacement,” Mele said.
The tank stores and breaks down solids, capturing floatable grease and scum that leaves the home so only liquid (wastewater) enters the disposal field.
“The system is passive and due to the lack of oxygen, it causes the organic materials to die and fall to the bottom of the tank,” Mele said.
Because organic material slowly decomposes and forms a sludge layer at the bottom of the tank, the tank must be pumped regularly to remove accumulated solids.
“Based on the number of people living in the home and the tank’s use,” Mele said, “most regulatory agencies recommend pumping the septic tank once every three to five years, as a rule of thumb.”
Most problems occur in the system’s septic field, according to Mele.
“These problems are the most costly and will in fact cause the most disruption to the yard and landscaping,” Mele said. “This is also where public health concerns could arise and would have an adverse effect [on] your health and the environment.”
If a problem begins in the system, Mele said, waste in the system would back up into the home or building, and the surface within the disposal field would moisten and start to puddle.
“An operational failure affects the homeowner and is normally corrected immediately,” Mele said. “A functional failure often does not directly affect the homeowner involved, but does affect the entire community through degraded water quality — and particularly through increased public health problems.”
A functional failure without some management, according to Mele, could almost be impossible to deal with.
“Individual homeowners often do not know when there has been a functional failure, and even if they do, they are very reluctant to acknowledge the failure and repair the system,” Mele said.
As state, county and municipal governing agencies have increasingly recognized the need to protect its surface water and groundwater supplies, Mele said, more stringent legislation has required communities to provide better wastewater treatment technologies.
“With small wastewater treatment technologies, such protection is achieved but has rarely been instituted in an effective manner,” Mele said. “This has led to an attitude on the part of the public, and many professionals in the field, that on-site systems need little or no attention and thus require no formal management.”
Septic systems, which have been used for more than 100 years, amount to nearly one-third of the U.S. population’s preferred method of wastewater treatment, according to Mele.
“While the need for health and environmental protection does not diminish, we continue to install these systems,” Mele said. “This has caused many communities and government agencies to search for wastewater treatment alternative systems.”
The search, Mele said, has led to a re-examination of the septic system (septic tank plus disposal field) and the development of a number of additional alternatives. The alternatives are often referred to, in general, as on-site or small-flow wastewater treatment technology.
“Considerable research and demonstration work have been conducted on on-site systems over the past five to 10 years as the delineation of successful site technology becomes more refined,” Mele said. “The purpose of these systems is to provide better treatment, longer disposal field life and more importantly, to minimize the impact to our groundwater, surface water and public health in general.”
In two areas of New Jersey, the Pinelands and the Highlands, residents have taken steps to address this issue, Mele said. They require on-site wastewater technologies to be incorporated into future developments to reduce the environmental impacts of development in rural areas and improve the environment.
“Five technologies have already been approved to reduce impact into the groundwater,” Mele said. “Treatment technologies are based upon principles of biological nitrogen reduction, which are well-studied and documented in engineering text with recommended design standards.”
Programs that fit with current state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) initiatives allow “innovative and alternative” technologies to receive local approvals, according to Mele.
Mele gave a few reasons for nitrogen removal from domestic wastewater. He said that nitrate in drinking water has human health implications and that nitrate in the water environment has an ecological impact.
“Nitrate from septic systems generally affects shallow groundwater, which discharges as base flow to lakes, ponds and streams during times of low flow,” Mele said.
Some of the new technologies like fixed media, such as sand, with air blowers can be installed within an existing septic tank and could reduce problems in the disposal fields, according to Mele.
zOther systems use air blowers and fixed media to introduce oxygen into the wastewater to reduce the environmental impacts of wastewater into the environment, according to Mele. These systems, Mele said, allow a biological process to maintain and allow organic materials with the wastewater to remain active and break down the wastewater.
“When technology is used, the next issue is who and how the system and technology are managed,” Mele said. “It has been shown that when technologies are left to the homeowner to fix, repair, clean and maintain, these systems have been shown not to work.”
If most homeowners do not keep up with the simple pumping of the septic tanks as recommended by most agencies, Mele said, “How could they maintain and operate treatment systems?”