http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/Septage_WEB.mp3
Some household toilet water in Grand Traverse County may not be reaching the county septage treatment plant, according to some data unearthed by local officials. Already some recording errors are apparent, but the data makes some officials wonder if a few waterfront homeowners may be pouring sewage into nearby lakes and rivers. If intentional, that would likely be criminal.
Questions Arise
No one is making accusations, but right now East Bay Township Supervisor Glen Lile says something doesn’t add up with a few waterfront homes that have underground septage holding tanks.
“We’re not sure what’s going on, whether people have got holes in their tanks, if people are draining them into rivers and streams, whether they’re getting pumped and going someplace else,” he says.
Lile is looking at year-round properties in East Bay, Green Lake and Peninsula townships, waterfront properties with have no drain field and no sewer access. Instead, they have large holding tanks that take on all the water that goes down the drain or into the toilet. Once filled, the tanks have to be emptied and treated.
By comparing health department records, township and septage plant records, Lile may have discovered more than a dozen homes with no record of septage arriving at the treatment plant since the county began collecting that information in 2010.
Holding Tanks Need Regular Pumping
That might be reasonable for summer cottages, and for properties with septic drain fields, which treat and release a lot of water back into the soil. But it’s surprising to hear year-round home with a holding tank wouldn’t have been pumped out multiple times a year. Suzette Hoxie and her husband live along the Boardman River where the water table is high.
“So if we had a septic it would flood, and of course a lot of it would leach into the river,” she says. The property has a holding tank.
Prices Rise
Pumping the tank has grown expensive over the years, but it wasn’t when the couple built the house 30 years ago. Back then, it cost $25 dollars to pump. Today every time the bill is more than $300 dollars. So she watches her water use.
“I have a high-efficiency washing machine, uses a lot less water,” she says. “We don’t let water run. I don’t run my dishwasher unless it’s full. We’ve learned to be very conservative with water.”
But even with conservation, the Hoxies estimate they have their tank pumped about six times a year. So how is it that there are 35 properties that, at least on paper, look very similar but have not sent septage to the treatment plant in two-and-a-half years?
Officials don’t know yet, but Lile says they plan to find out.
“With about 400 holding tanks in the area, I think we can get our arms around that and try to figure out exactly what’s going on,” he says.
Possible Explanations
Lile says it’s possible there is one or more rogue septage hauler charging treatment plant fees to customers, but pocketing the money and dumping illegally. Or a hauler could be hauling to treatment plants outside the county. That would also be illegal.
But Peninsula Township Supervisor Rob Manigold doesn’t think it’s the most likely explanation. He says, even with recent rate hikes, holding tank fees in Grand Traverse are still comparable to nearby plants in Suttons Bay and Mancelona.
“We’ve either got some recording errors or we’ve got some people that possibly are emptying their holding tank into the river or the bay and I think that will be a determination by Grand Traverse County Health Department,” he says.
Manigold and Lile are on a board that oversees the county septage plant. The board plans to complete its number crunching and then to turn county-wide data over to the health department for further investigation.