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Trumbull County out from under strict septic rules after 10 years
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
State and county officials announced Wednesday that a large percentage of Trumbull County property owners will have less-expensive options available if they need a new septic system.
The announcement, made at the county courthouse gazebo, was that a 2006 consent decree between the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the county’s general health district has been rescinded. The decree was an agreement that avoided litigation with the state.
The decree forced county property owners to meet more strict regulations than people in other Ohio counties with septic systems.
Trumbull was singled out because so many septic systems at the time were discharging raw sewage into streams, ditches, ponds, lakes and other waters, officials said.
“The residents of Trumbull County have made considerable progress” in eliminating failed septic systems, Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler said during the announcement.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Department of Health passed new regulations for all Ohio counties in 2015 that better protect the groundwater and surface, Butler said.
Effective Sept. 2, Trumbull County only has to meet the statewide rules, Butler said.
Commissioner Dan Polivka said the old rules have been “plaguing Trumbull County for 10 years.”
Under the state rules, the board of health no longer must require sand filters or other secondary treatment for systems that discharge wastewater off of the property, said Frank Migliozzi, county health commissioner.
Fifty-five percent of the new and upgraded septic systems installed in 2014 included those requirements, which added about $3,000 to the cost, Migliozzi said.
Under the state rules, the county health department also can grant a variance from tying into a sewer system if the property has a functioning septic system not creating a public-health nuisance.
And, the state rules allow parcels of land platted before Jan. 1, 2007, to be considered for a septic system that were not eligible before.
Each year, about 400 to 500 septic systems are installed or upgraded, and there are about 20,000 systems throughout the county, said Kris Wilster, the health board’s director of environmental health.
Migliozzi noted that Democrat Sean O’Brien of Bazetta Township contacted him in 2011, shortly after O’Brien, D-63rd, said he was going to work to change the septic regulations.
“We persevered, and we did change the rules,” Migliozzi said.
Jack Simon, a former Liberty Township trustee, also made elimination of the consent decree a part of his platform when he ran for a seat on the county board of health, Migliozzi said.
Migliozzi also thanked the Ohio EPA for providing $300,000 of assistance last year for replacement and repair of septic systems and committing to providing more in 2016.
The new septic rules don’t affect a separate consent decree the county commissioners signed with the Ohio EPA in 2007 that listed sewer projects the county promised to carry out over the coming years, Migliozzi said.