TRUMBULL COUNTY Talks about septic woes continue

Better septic tanks won't satisfy the EPA.
WARREN -- Officials from the Trumbull County Health Department and the Sanitary Engineer's Office agree on how to fix the county's septic problems: Others should do more.
At the second of what are expected to become monthly meetings, officials agreed Tuesday to further discussions.
The EPA has identified more than a dozen areas in Trumbull County where raw sewage is getting into roadside ditches from failing home septic systems and has sued to force county commissioners to do something about it.
The estimated cost of bringing sewers to all the areas identified by the EPA would be $53 million, said sanitary engineer Thomas Holloway.
Would take decades
Because of the high cost and limited availability of grants, it will likely take decades to bring sewers to all the areas that need them, Holloway said.
In the meantime, the health department should make septic tank owners clean up their acts, he said.
The sanitary engineer builds and operates sewers; the health department issues permits and monitors residential septic systems.
"They have to get people to take immediate steps to get into compliance," Holloway said.
Health department officials point out that even if they force people to replace failing septic tanks with new $10,000 high-tech models, it still wouldn't satisfy the EPA.
The problem areas are typically neighborhoods with lots too small for leach fields and the agency doesn't want any more septic tanks discharging fluid -- even from the expensive, high-tech tanks, said Erm Gomes, representing the Ohio EPA.
The EPA would be satisfied with sewer hookups or a small sanitary sewer system to service just the neighborhood, he said.
Installing sewers can be very expensive.
Laying sewer line for 200 residences in Brookfield, for example, will cost $4.2 million, Holloway said.
If grants are not available, the cost of installing sewers could be more than some homeowners could afford to pay, he said.
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