Rural areas to have septic checks

Staff

Published Friday, March 31, 2006

By Kari Lucin, staff writer

Freeborn County will perform compliance checks on individual sewage treatment systems countywide beginning with townships near water bodies.

The county's current point-of-sale system for checking the septic systems would take an estimated 27 years to ensure every septic system is compliant with regulations, said Cathy Rofshus of the watershed district.

The Shell Rock River Watershed District will design an implementation plan for a committee of Freeborn County commissioners, watershed district representatives, a township representative and county environmental services personnel.

After the plan is approved by the committee, it will come before the watershed district board for approval, and then to the county board.

A plan likely will include a revolving loan fund for landowners to borrow from to fix their septic systems, but county officials have to determine the loan terms.

“Right now they're discussing priority areas, timing, workload and staffing, record-keeping, enforcement, contractor availability and competition, operation and maintenance, and of course the financing,” said watershed administrator Brett Behnke.

The watershed board and county will cooperate on hiring the additional staff needed to cope with the countywide checks.

“Overall, the support and the drive for updated in-compliance septic systems is there,” Behnke said.

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