Page 19 - Sonoma County Gazette Juy 2019

TMDL cont’d from page 1
watershed out to the sea. The estimate is that 18,000 homes will have to comply, so you can see this could take a while!
A central component of Sonoma County’s Local Agency Management Program is the County’s updated Onsite Waste Treatment Systems (OWTS) Manual. This manual provides the regulations, procedural and technical details governing individual onsite wastewater treatment systems (also referred to as septic systems). The four main changes to local septic requirements relate to:
• Repairs, replacement systems, and new systems;
• Qualified consultants and OWTS designers; and
• Building permit thresholds for septic system review.
The approved changes to the OWTS Manual takes effect July 1, 2019, but
it could be another five years before all systems are in place to clean up the problem that impacts water quality along the Russian River and all tributaries leading to the river.
TMDL stands for Total Maximum Daily Load
Climate Change ACTION: Step by Step
What that means is how much human waste can the river handle before it becomes toxic for fish, wildlife and humans.
By Ellen Solomon
JOIN the Green Community, reduce your ecological footprint, save the earth.
People always bring up that not only human waste ends up in the river, but what they may not know is that human waste is easily differentiated from animal waste, and it’s the human waste that poses the problem.
How does it work? Reduce the amount of fossil fueled energy (oil, gas) that you use. Protect natural resources: water, air, soil.
What’s the major contributor of human waste?
Human Population Increase and the Industrial Revolution are prime factors in our present troubles. The degradation of the earth is a direct result of the pressure of increased human demands on nature. Ecology teaches
us that in the web of life we are all connected and cannot save the earth in isolation. “Sustainability requires community.”
OWTS - Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems. They are not always SEPTIC systems (a tank that pretreats/decomposes water and waste before the water enters a leach system which disperses the wastewater into soil). They are also often Cesspools (a box that leaches waste into the soil without treatment).
1) CARE FOR A TREE
Trees hold water in the earth, prevent erosion, clean the air, reduce CO2, provide shade, and support a multitude of life - birds, bugs, flowers, fruits, pollinators, mammals. They teach us about beauty and hope.
2) WALK & USE PUBLIC TRANSIT
Enjoy the benefits of fresh air, see the world go by slowly, discover people on your path. And reduce spending oil and creating carbon dioxide (19.8 pounds per gallon) which contributes to climate change.
6) USE MANUAL TOOLS
Use the rake instead of a blower. When you hire landscapers, instruct them
not to use a blower, which is triply harmful. Reduce air pollution, noise pollution, and energy consumption. Use a broom or carpet sweeper instead of the vacuum.
7) AUTOMOBILE ECO-ETIQUETTE
Park near the entrance to the lot, not the store. Avoid spending gas driving around the parking lot, and try to enjoy the walk across the parking lot.
8) PARKING ECO-ETIQUETTE NO.
2 At the bank, don›t use the drive-up tellers; park, get out of the car - move the body - and save on gas.
When in the car, be mindful when using a mobile phone, or stopping to chat
with neighbors. Turn off the engine and reduce carbon dioxide emission.
10) BUY IN BULK By purchasing without a container, we avoid contributing to the “Package economy,” in which the packaging creates and enlarges the carbon footprint.
11) DRY LAUNDRY OUTSIDE
Use the great dryer in the sky. And the clothes smell so fresh!
Options to cesspools and septic systems are available... Sewer systems - complicated and too expensive for small, rural
communities).
Aerobic systems - The benefits
of this system are that it can be used in homes with smaller lots, inadequate soil conditions, in areas where the water table is too high, or for homes close to
a surface water body sensitive
to contamination by nutrients contained in wastewater effluent. Regular life-time maintenance should be expected for ATUs.
3) GROW YOUR OWN VEGETABLES/BUY LOCAL
Mound systems - requie a large area of land that cannot be used for anything else. Expensive and not prcticle for properties by waterways.
Composting toilets - legal in the state but not legal in Sonoma County. Is funding available YET?
Save the environmental cost of transporting food across the miles from farm to warehouse to warehouse to store.
9) TURN OFF THE ENGINE
The county and state are “working on it.” That has been the big wall in front of accomplishing this task of cleaning up our waterways. People who own properties in the area that mandates upgrades can’t always afford replacement systems. Working systems will not need to be replaced, but will be inspected every 5 years. Nonworking systems will be mandated for replacement so the state has a Pilot Project in Monte Rio, one of the communities most impacted by this state mandate.
4) COMPOST all the vegetable kitchen waste - plus coffee grounds and eggshells (but don’t put meat or dairy in your compost pile at home.) Less goes to the landfill, and you improve the soil to grow more vegetables. If you don’t have space, you can still put coffee grounds on your plants.
Replace high-water lawns with a combination of the following: a vegetable garden, a small drought- tolerant lawn, a bed of low maintenance, drought-resistant, four season native shrubs, or native plants.
ALL articles in PRINT are ALSO ONLINE with live links - AND MORE all month long @ www.SonomaCountyGazette.com
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The project involves finding funding resources for small group systems, as well as for homeowners who can qualify for programs similar to the SCEIP program for on-site energy systems.
5) SHRINK THE LAWN
Where there’s a will...there’s a way, and even though this has taken decades to get this far, water quality is suffering and that’s one thing everyone can agree on. Getting our rivers clean is essential to all life, to our local economy, and for our fish and wildlife.
To learn your Ecological Footprint:
Myfootprint.org, Footprintnetwork.org Ellen Solomon, Citizens for a Livable Earth, Citizens for a Livable Petaluma
For more information regarding the County’s septic policy, including frequently asked questions, and a map to find your property, please visit:
www.sonomacounty.ca.gov/Permit/Septic-Policy-Update
This is also a very useful website to explain different ways wastewater can be treated: https://www.epa.gov/septic/types-septic-systems