MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Health Department, led by its environmental health staff, has issued a four-page informational guide about new state-required household septic system rules going into effect Jan. 1.
State legislation passed in 2015 requires all county health boards to develop an operations and maintenance plan for septic systems and gray water recycling systems. In Knox County, there are 18,000 septic systems that will be impacted at some point by the new requirements. But the health department, led on the issue by Environmental Health Director Nate Overholt, emphasized not all households will be affected at the same time.
The county’s “Frequently Asked Questions” section, under the heading “What will this cost me?” states, “At some point in time, every household on a septic system will receive a letter indicating the need to pay $66 for a permit to operate the system. Later, during the 10-year operational permit period, your system will be required to be evaluated.”
The county also states, “Additional fees could be incurred at this time if you hire someone to perform the (household sewage/septic system) evaluation.”
The $66 operational permit is good for 10 years, the county emphasizes. Those with new septic systems or those most recently evaluated and having passed those evaluations would not be in need of an evaluation for some time. All septic system owners will eventually need an evaluation, as no one is “grandfathered in” from the new requirements.
For septic systems that do need an evaluation now or in the near future, there are three options for evaluation with one of them being the health department performing it at a cost of $225, paid up front. A registered service provider may perform the evaluation, the costs of which may vary from one business to another. The third option is that the homeowners can complete an evaluation themselves through a process that starts with passing a free test online offered by the Operator Training Committee of Ohio Inc.
“It is not the intent of the (county) health department to be the main evaluator of local septic systems,” the county states. “The health department recommends using a registered service provider so that if there is work to be done on the system, the service provider will be familiar with the system and the needed work.”
Overholt addressed several questions from the Mount Vernon News, starting with how the $66 operational permit — which will eventually total more than $1 million collected in Knox County — will be used. He anticipates that initially, 100 to 150 systems will be evaluated per year.
“The $66 operational permit will go into the (county) household sewage treatment system budget,” he said. “The fee will assist in covering administrative costs of the program. At this time, none of the operational fee is going to the state of Ohio.”
The “Frequently Asked Questions” section addressed rumors about the fee, offering, “There are no plans to use funding from the new fees to expand the Environmental Health staff, increase salaries, or purchase vehicles for the staff ... (the) fees follow strict guidelines regarding cost methodology. By Ohio law, environmental health programs can only charge for the costs incurred — the programs are not allowed to make a profit.”
Overholt said the $66 operating fee was derived from a state cost methodology for implementing programs, which has been in place since 2016. He added that the data collected from Knox County households will be entered into the health district information system software. Household sewage treatment system staff and the environmental health administrative assistant are responsible for the data.
“The new software will allow for individual residents to create their own profile to pay for the permit online, along with residents or registered service providers to upload data for the systems,” Overholt said. That should begin in early 2020.
Overholt was asked what penalties result from non-compliance with the new regulations. He said if fees are not paid on time, a penalty equal to 25 percent of the fee can be assessed. If a fee is not paid on time and no proof of septic system evaluation occurs, the matter would be turned over to the Knox County prosecutor for civil legal action.
The purpose of the rules is to prevent pollution from sewage-related contamination caused by breaches into ground water and surface water sources.
Those with questions about the new Ohio sewage regulations can email questions to eh@knoxhealth.com.
They can also visit the Knox County Department of Health website, www.knoxhealth.com.
