The Kent County Health Department’s Environmental Health Director John Beskid announced this week that funds allocated for septic tank upgrades will be greatly diminished by the end of this year.
For 2012, however, Kent County has received a $363,000 grant through the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Bay Restoration Fund. According to Beskid, this money will be used to replace approximately twenty-five septic tanks with what the MDE calls “nitrogen reducing Best Available Technology” (BAT).
By using a carbon-based fluid, the new BAT septic systems will work to cut nitrogen effluence in half, converting it instead into gases that are less harmful to waterways. The MDE website claims that a typical septic system dumps about 30 pounds of nitrogen into the groundwater a year. According to the Chester River Association, the MDE has also estimated that about 10% of the fecal coliform promoting nitrogen in the Chester River has come from failing septic systems in the area. Kent County has 133 BAT systems in the ground, says Beskid, none of them, however, are equipped with the nitrogen reducing carbon fluid.
“For this year,” said Beskid, “the funding is 100% available, but after this year, that isn’t a certainty, then it might be based on people’s income tax.”
The Bay Restoration Fund’s money comes from flush taxes re-routed into the MDE, which distributes grants to individual counties. While the money will be enough to cover the new nitrogen reducing septic tanks— which depending on soil variability can range in cost from $10,000 to $25,000— the grant does not cover the cost of new drainage fields.
High demand for these new systems has forced the MDE to prioritize which locations can receive upgrade funding. As of now, only “those systems that pose the greatest threat to clean waterways and drinking water” will receive attention.
As such, replacing “failing septic systems in the Critical Area” (land within 1,000 feet of tidal waters) is the Bay Restoration Fund’s highest priority for all counties.
for more information and access to Bay Restoration Fund videos visit http://www.mde.maryland.gov/programs/Water/BayRestorationFund/OnsiteDisposalSystems/Pages/Water/cbwrf/index.aspx
“According to the Chester River Association, the MDE has also estimated that about 10% of the fecal coliform promoting nitrogen in the Chester River has come from failing septic systems in the area.”
Please provide a complete reference to the source for any scientific information that you provide. Is this number from the EPA Chesapeake Bay modeling program, or from the USGS or other…and if so, what document can it be found in? I don’t believe that the Maryland Department of the Environment does primary analysis to come up with a statistic like that. It is in the interest of “The Spy” and the Chester River Association to fully cite their scientific sources…..again, I don’t think that number came from MDE.
At any rate, the statistic begs the answer to the question: where does the OTHER 90% come from? And does it cost as much per pound reduced to address? A very good series would be based on THAT and addressing the complete Nitrogen geochemical cycle. My understanding from the Chesapeake Bay cleanup modeling is that over 50% of that Nitrogen comes from air pollution….