The new rules will establish Minimum requirements for the permitting, monitoring, and operation of OWTS and require local agencies implementing the OWTS standards to monitor them. The standards are to apply to any onsite sewage disposal system that: is constructed or replaced  six months after the adoption date of the regulations, is subject to a major repair, pools or discharges to the surface of the ground in the judgment of the Regional Water Quality Control Board or the authorized agency, such as the county. If the system has the reasonable potential to cause a violation of water quality objectives, to impair present or future beneficial uses of water, to cause pollution, nuisance, or contamination of waters of the state.

The newly released draft recommendations were recently a discussion topic at the Regional Council of Rural Counties meeting held Wednesday. The issue is of particular concern to rural counties, like Amador, where large numbers of residents have septic systems and many smaller scale developments have sewage systems which are large scale septic operations. The concern is not only what requirements will be made of the county’s citizens, but also the impact on the County’s Environmental Health department which will be charged with the cast number of rules, regulations and inspections which will impact employee time and workloads.

How small counties like Amador, with limited resources, will pay for the staff and staff time necessary for the implementation of the law is a not clear. The RCRC has made it a priority to inform Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and others in Sacramento about the uncertainty surrounding the application and implementation of these new rules. Last week a group met with the Governor’s Office and it was determined that small technical groups would be established to look at resolution and solutions for the problems this new set of state regulations will impose on small and rural counties. This technical group does include personnel from the State Regional Water Quality Control Board, the regulatory of the arm responsible for the oversight of the laws implementation. Also, Senator Dave Cox will be introducing a “spot bill” that can be used for solutions to help rural counties should legislative action be required. Also being addressed is how small counties will pay for the increased costs under this law. Regional approaches being considered are for counties to work together, the creation of a grant program by the state to help defer costs, as well as a revolving fund program that will also be explored.