ROGERS — Most Northwest Arkansas residents don’t think twice when they flush their toilets or put food down garbage disposals. They know it’s going to a treatment plant.
But for the 25,000 septic tank owners in Benton County, a “flush and forget” philosophy could damage their property and the region’s drinking water supply.
At A Glance
Septic Tank Care
• Find out if you are on a septic tank. In Benton County, even a property within a city could be on a septic system.
• Know where the tank is. Lateral lines are usually buried shallow and driving over them can compact soil and crush the pipes.
• If buying property, hire an Arkansas Health Department certified inspector to ensure the property has a functioning septic system.
• To get more years out of a tank, pump it out at least every five to seven years. How often depends on the size of tank and the number of members in the household.
• Avoid letting foods, greases, plastics and other solids go down the drain or garbage disposal. They can lead to blockage of pipes and cause a malfunction.
• Rid-X, a popular septic tank additive, is not a substitute to maintenance. The tank will take care of itself if maintained properly.
• Minimize use of bleach and household cleaning products. It could kill the needed bacteria in a tank.
• Visit www.epa.gov/septicsmart for more information on septic systems.
Source: Staff Report
In addition to the 25,000 permitted septic tanks in Benton County, there are an unknown number of undocumented tanks installed before 1977, when the Arkansas Department of Health began to require permits. The risk of failure is high as these old systems age, said Caroline Eastman, a Benton County environmental health specialist.
“There’s a lot of systems out there that were put in the ground that we don’t have a permit on, or we don’t know what’s in the ground,” she said. Once an undocumented septic tank is found to be malfunctioning, the Health Department requires any new system to meet current standards or oversees repairs, Eastman said.
Thousands of residents live in homes with septic systems near Beaver Lake, the source of drinking water for about 420,000 Northwest Arkansas residents, said Bob Morgan, Beaver Water District manager of environmental quality. If enough of those systems fail, maybe 10 percent, then Beaver Lake could face a problem.
“It could be the dirtiest secret no one wants to find out,” said John Pennington, the executive director of the Beaver Watershed Alliance. “It would take a master’s thesis to find all the old properties that might be undocumented.”
Beaver Lake’s water quality is in “relatively good shape” other than excess algae and bacteria in some places. It hasn’t changed significantly in the past decade, Morgan said.
Rules, Regs
A septic tank is a single tank or series of tanks to treat wastewater on-site. Bacteria inside the tank treats the wastewater that clears between the top layer of scum and bottom layer of solids. Then it flows to extended, perforated underground pipes called lateral lines. The liquids seep into the soil where it is further treated by the soil, according to the Arkansas State Board of Health rules and regulations of onsite wastewater systems.
There were rules in place before 1977 addressing septic systems, but they weren’t laws and homeowners didn’t need a permit. A homeowner wasn’t required to test if his soil could handle a tank’s seepage, and because state law didn’t require a design, they could install anything from a straight line pipe for drainage to a 50-gallon plastic drum. That continued to be the case until 1999 for owners with 10 acres or more in Benton County.
Benton County has no ordinances specific to septic tanks, said John Sudduth, administrator of general services for the county. State law is the minimum a county has to enforce, but there’s the option to enact stricter ordinances.
In Washington County, ordinance 37 of 2003 requires the seller of any residential or business structure or land where a home or business is to be built to get the existing system approved or cleared for installation by the Health Department, according to Washington County law.
The required inspection isn’t dictated, but the inspectors are certified, and the Health Department approves inspections based on the information reported by the certified inspector, said Melissa Wannacott, the Washington County environmental health specialist.
From 2010 to present in Washington County, 910 permits were issued, Wannacott said.
If an environmental health specialist finds a malfunctioning septic tank, the landowner is required to either repair or replace his tank or he could face prosecution.
Upstream from Beaver Lake is Table Rock Lake in Stone County, M0., County law states if a septic tank on a property is more than 10 years old and the land is sold, the seller or buyer has to get it inspected to ensure it’s functioning properly.
Topography Challenge
Northwest Arkansas’ soluble bedrock topography has fissures and gaps that let surface and groundwater run together. A malfunctioning septic tank’s contents could flow quickly into the groundwater and pose environmental concerns for Beaver Lake, Morgan said.
If any part of a system breaks down, a lot of water running into a small area can overwhelm the soil’s ability to treat the wastewater. Once that gets into the groundwater, it could seep into nearby well water people drink.
If a valve fails, solids and greases can clog the lateral lines and clog the holes forcing the water to come out at one point. If those solids make it out into the soil it will clog the pores in the soil, and flow straight to a watercourse, which could lead to Beaver Lake. The hazardous water then can eat up the oxygen in the lake and make those who come in contact with it sick, Morgan said.
Northwest Arkansans would see less fish in the lake from the lack of oxygen in algae-ridden water as well as higher water bills if the lake’s health reached a point where the water district had to add another cleaning process, Morgan said.
“A lot of people think there’s no reason to manage a septic system, that the bacteria will take care of it. Or they will think as long as we don’t see anything it’s a go,” said Angela Danovi, Arkansas projects manager for Ozark Water Watch. “You may not be able to tell if it’s failing. Let’s say you make an addition to your home or add more people, and you don’t upgrade your septic system. Solids can build up pretty quickly and cause your system to fail, and you can damage your infrastructure.”
Brad Dillard, the owner of Roto Rooter in Springdale, which provides septic pumping services, said he finds at least 50 or more failing tanks a year in the region.
A portion of septic issues come from residents not knowing they’re on a septic system.
“A lot of people moving out here don’t know what a septic tank is or how they work,” said Chuck Gay, a Crye-Leike real estate agent for the Rogers-Beaver Lake area. “Most people who live out on the lake are responsible enough and care about the environment. I think if they knew that something wasn’t working right, they would take care of it right away.”
Unknown Dangers
There are three kinds of septic system failures: wastewater can pool where the leak is, the plumbing can back up into the house because of blockage and wastewater can seep into fractured rock, Eastman said. She fears the last type the most because it can go undetected.
“Once in a while I’ll talk to someone who says ‘Oh, our system was put in the ground by my great-grandfather in 1940 and we’ve never had a problem with it,’” she said. “At some point that stuff starts to show itself.”
Once an undocumented septic tank is malfunctioning, the Health Department requires any new system to meet current standards or oversees repairs, Eastman said.
Russell Baker, a former resident of Bella Vista, said he came back from a winter vacation to find his septic had failed during his time away. There was an old metal tank that had rusted and cracked and caused blockage. He had to spend about $3,000 to pump out and bury the old tank and install a new system.
“The guy I bought the house from said there’s no issues. I had no idea what kind of tank we had as far as being metal,” Baker said. “I had it inspected and the guy said there wasn’t anything wrong, if it’s working, it’s working. If it’s failing are you going to know? Would I ever have known?”
Metal tanks aren’t pumped by Roto Rooter because they are likely to collapse when pumped, Dillard said. So in effect, those who have metal septic tanks cannot get theirs maintained unless they are replaced.
New, Improved Houses
Benton County residents are required to hire a designated representative trained and licensed in soil morphology testing and septic design for installations. An environmental health specialist reviews all the calculations before signing a permit, said Piper Satterfield, a Benton County environmental health specialist.
“You can’t get your building permit until you get your septic permit,” Satterfield said.
After giving the permit to the land owner, whatever he does with the system is up to him until a failure is reported by the owner or someone files a complaint, Eastman said.
If an owner makes an addition to a home, and a county assessor reports an increase in square footage, it is up to the owner to match the tank requirement for the number of people using the tank, Eastman said.
“I can’t go in and tell them to upgrade their house,” she said.
Within the past year, 60 properties in the lakeside area were recorded for increased square footage, and there’s no way to tell if those property owners made adjustments or improvements to their septic systems, said Clayton Hufford, senior real estate appraiser for Benton County.
Benton County received money in 2008 to help residents who had tanks that were hazardous and couldn’t afford to fix them. Fourteen homes were repaired in the first round, and the department is working on getting money to provide services to at least 22 more homes, Satterfield said.
“Most people don’t want that in their yards. Most people want to fix it,” Eastman said.
Eastman said she also would love to see a larger education program in addition to the informational meetings and pamphlets her office provides and more grant money.
“I feel like we’re doing the best job we can with looking at the site, looking at the soils, making sure it’s installed properly,” Eastman said.
“I’m not going to lie and say I don’t have concerns. This area is growing fast. We’re still putting in hundreds of septic systems every year, at some point there’s going to be an impact. We’re trying to keep that risk at a minimum.”