Septic-system upkeep adds up to costly lesson for homeowner

Electric, inspection and maintenance can cost $800 to $1,000 per year.

By Ed Runyan

BRISTOL — When Doug Markowitz bought his new house on state Route 45 in 2005, he agreed to a purchase price that included enough money to replace the septic system.

Like roughly 80 percent of the 26,000 Trumbull County homes with septic systems, his failed the test given by the Trumbull County Health Department. The test is mandatory on all Trumbull County homes being sold.

What he didn’t know was that his expenses had just begun.

“If people are as ignorant as I was, they aren’t going to realize how much they are going to have to pay,” Markowitz said of the costs associated with maintaining that system.

First, there is an annual fee of $125 paid to the Trumbull County Health Department for most systems installed before Jan. 1, 2007, or $175 for those installed after Jan. 1, 2007. The fee reimburses the department for testing the system each year.

Then there is an annual maintenance contract to a private company, which reports back to the health department that it has inspected the system. That cost is around $200 per year.

Then there is the cost of chlorination and dechlorination tablets that most systems use, and the cost of electricity to keep a motor running inside most of the systems. The electric is about $1 per day.

One septic-maintenance company estimates the cost to be $800 to $1,000 per year in all.

Markowitz said he found himself unable to pay all of those costs a couple of times in recent years, including the annual fee to the health department and a maintenance company.

He received a notice recently that he was being cited into Newton Falls Municipal Court for failure to comply with department regulations.

Markowitz, who attended a hearing this week that resulted in his case’s being continued until Nov. 17, said he plans to fight the charge.

“It’s insane,” Markowitz said of the fees. “I thought, ‘We’re getting a new system. It’s going to be all glorious.’ I didn’t know I’d have to pay for this, that and the other.”

Markowitz said he may lose his case, but he wants to publicize the high cost of having a new septic system so that others won’t be caught unaware.

Frank Migliozzi, director of environmental health for the county health department, said people should not be unaware that a septic system today is going to cost money to maintain. Septic-system requirements are clearly spelled out by the health department before a person closes on the purchase of a home getting a new system.

“There is no such thing as a maintenance-free septic system,” Migliozzi said.

Markowitz said he also has a hard time understanding what was wrong with the system that was at the house when he bought it.

“There was never a problem with the old one,” he said.

Migliozzi said it’s common for people to say that their failed system worked fine and didn’t need maintenance. But one test of the water emanating from the system would show that it violates state law.

“I guarantee it is creating a problem,” Migliozzi said.

The rules that went into effect in 2003 and updated Jan. 1, 2007, and in April 16, 2009, are there to “eliminate germs and contagion,” Migliozzi said.

Migliozzi said septic owners might want to consider that people who live in town pay a similar amount each year for sewage removal.

“Nobody is getting off scot free — sewers or septic.”

runyan@vindy.com