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Small Flows Quarterly, Fall 2004, Volume 5, Number 4
The system can create reports by
searching a variety of parameters, for
example, systems serviced, systems
pending service, disposal locations
sorted by territory or provider, and
permits issued by property owner
and address.
Homeowners who have exceeded
their required service threshold
are flagged and listed, providing a
useful regulatory tool. The report
shows all systems by type that need
to be serviced. (See graphic below.)
The user can view permits and
can list the schedule for inspecting
each component of a system. For example,
a FAST® (Fixed Activated
Sludge Treatment) system is inspected
once a year, and the effluent
pump, including floats and switch
settings, must be inspected at the
same time.
Postcards advising homeowners
that it is time to inspect their systems
can be electronically generated
and automatically printed for any
class of onsite systems. Because
Wood County has approximately
6,500 conventional, nonpressurized
systems, it would overload the industry
to service all of these systems
during one period and would create
an artificial price increase for the
homeowner. To prevent this, Greuel
designed the program to divide the
notices into two groups that are sent
at different times.
Reports can also be customized
using any parameter in the program.
Using an Excel format, the report
will provide statistics for the parameters
selected. For example, you can
find all the septage that was spread
on a parcel of land and where the
waste originated. “That’s unheard
of,” Greuel said.
The program contains the manufacturer’s
suggested maintenance report
for each type of system so that
a maintenance provider can verify
what needs to be done to maintain
the systems. It also lists all active, licensed
installers and service
providers in the county.
“A feature that has helped us
tremendously is finding information
we need without using a permit
number or legal description,” Greuel
said. For example, typing a street
name allows the system to list everyone
on that street. The user can
then match the name with the address,
or the user can simply enter a
street number, and the system will
list all the streets with that number.
Data Entry
Greuel used courthouse records,
such as tax listings and assessments,
to determine which properties in the
county had onsite treatment systems.
“Generally speaking, if the assessment
for a property is over
$15,000, we know it contains a
dwelling,” Greuel said. “Not all existing
homes have a permitted onsite
system, but it is still valuable to include
those lots in the data base.”
“It took a lot of investigative
work to match up old permits because
of inaccurate legal descriptions.”
Some permits were no longer
tied to a dwelling because the
dwelling (for instance, a mobile
home) had been relocated and not
replaced, yet records weren’t updated.
Existing records also didn’t show
that dwellings had been abandoned,
connected to municipal treatment
systems, or removed by new construction
(for instance, property purchased
for highway right of way).
Still other properties had reconnects
and multiple permits because of replacement
systems.
Collecting information
was further
complicated by address
changes and
missing tax parcel
numbers. Some
properties didn’t
have tax parcel
numbers attached
to them because a
parcel was split and
assigned a new tax
identification number.
“Sometimes
there wasn’t
enough information
about a property in
the courthouse,
and someone
would need to go
to the site to verify a permit,”
Greuel said. “It took us two
years to find, verify, and enter
the data, but we are confident
that most of our permit data is
now accurate.”
Funding is Major Obstacle
Finding the money to pay for a
maintenance system is the major
stumbling block across the U.S., according
to Greuel. For the first two
years of operation, Wood County
passed the $3 a month data entry
fee onto the holding tank system
homeowners as a user fee.
“Wisconsin is a taxed state with
very few user fees,” Greuel said.
“For example, in Arizona you will
pay $300 or $400 for car registration
but here you pay only $35, and
the rest of the cost is supplemented
through taxation. “It doesn’t take
much of a user fee to get the public
sector’s attention when they are not
used to them.”
The county billed holding tank
owners $36 annually and new holding
tank owners an additional $20
during the first two years of the
program. Beginning with the program’s
third year, the county used
departmental funds to fully pay for
the program since it was expanded
to include all onsite system.
“In his initial proposal, Carmody
promised that as his numbers went
up, our costs would go down, and
they have. Currently we pay a flat
$5,000 monthly fee, which includes
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