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Private Sewage Program
NPDES Permits and the Local Health Department
Lately there have been a number of rumors regarding EPA rule changes with regards to private sewage disposal systems or, more specifically, those systems that discharge to the ground surface. These rule changes are being driven by a lawsuit brought against the Illinois EPA by several environmental groups that have indicated that Illinois is not in compliance with Federal mandates. Simply put, Illinois has not kept up with standards that were laid out thirty years ago in the Clean Water Act of 1977. This Act was established in order to curb water pollution and requires that any system discharging into “waters of the State” must be covered by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The NPDES permit will be issued by the Illinois EPA and requires testing that is estimated to cost the average homeowner about $200 per year. Remember, that is an “average.” A failing system could require retesting several times during the course of a year at a cost of around $100 per test.
Early on, the Illinois EPA indicated that they wanted the Illinois Public Health Department to issue NPDES permits since we are already responsible for issuing installation permits for systems under 1500 gallons/day. However, IDPH does not have the money, the manpower, or the authority to issue and monitor NPDES permits. We also believe that they are an undue burden on the homeowner who already pays yearly maintenance fees on their sewage systems. Therefore, your local health department will not issue these permits. If you are putting in a new system, we will provide information to you about them. But, ultimately, the choice to apply or not will be up to the homeowner.
There are a number of important issues besides those that I have already mentioned regarding what qualifies as a representative sample from these systems, who is qualified to take the samples, and what labs are available to test these samples. Unfortunately, these issues and many others are not being appropriately addressed in the rush to push these rule changes through. And the rule changes are on their way. One way or another, NPDES permits are coming.
Ronald H Brown II
Operations Manager, Office of Health Protection
Perry County Health Department
