NWA EDITORIAL: Here's the poop

In Northwest Arkansas, one never knows what wonders, or horrors, lurk not far below the surface.

Yes, that sounds like a pitch for a scary Hollywood film. But it's also an accurate depiction of the region's complex out-of-sight and often out-of-mind geology that can be powerfully affected by land use. As more and more people flow into Northwest Arkansas, it behooves everyone to pay closer attention to existing and proposed land uses.

The state's Natural Resources Commission apparently recognizes the potentially harmful effects of man-made systems that, when not properly maintained, can behave like environmental time bombs. Most Arkansans know them as septic systems.

Across Arkansas, a third of the state's population depends on septic systems, according to the state's environmental health director, Richard Mullen. This paper recently reported that number adds up to 1.1 million people.

Some city folk may not even realize what a septic system is. When they flush a toilet, everything flows into municipal pipes headed to a massive sewage treatment plant. Such plants are expensive, meaning it takes a pretty large population of users to pay for them. In smaller towns and rural areas, terrain, fewer customers, high costs and the nature of hydraulics make a centralized sewage treatment system literally a pipe dream.

So the go-to solution is septic systems. These systems, installed in most cases to serve one property, include a tank where solids settle (we know -- gross!). Buried, perforated pipes spread from there into what's known as a drainfield, where the remaining liquid sewage slowly discharges into the soil. The system takes advantage of the earth's natural abilities to cleanse the waste water.

If a system fails, the adverse health effects can threaten the immediate property. But we all also know what rolls downhill. That means malfunctioning systems contribute to spoiling ground water and area waterways. Some of those waterways also provide drinking water for the region's communities.

Good recent news comes from the Natural Resources Commission, which for the first time has approved more than $2.5 million in taxpayer-funded, interest-free loans and some grants for landowners experiencing septic system failures. The effort starts in Northwest Arkansas and, if successful, may spread to other vulnerable watersheds in the state after a three-year time frame.

The funding has been allocated to the Illinois River Watershed Project for use in that watershed in Benton, Washington and Crawford counties. The Missouri-based Ozarks Water Watch will administer the program for the White River watershed in Benton, Washington, Madison, Carroll, Boone, Newton and Franklin counties.

What all these efforts rely on are property owners who recognize their responsibility to maintain their systems and address problems when they arise. We can think of no better time to have a system evaluated by a licensed septic tank installation company than when there's interest-free loans and grants available. Since state inspections only occur when a system is first installed, the environment relies on property owners to do their part.

People who purchase properties with septic systems already installed don't always recognize the critical value of maintaining their systems, to them, their neighbors and the environment. We're hopeful these programs help to motivate property owners to make sure their septic systems aren't responsible for sending any part of Northwest Arkansas' environment down the drain.