RD318 - Five-Year Report on the Status of Onsite Sewage Handling and Disposal - November 2011


Executive Summary:
Va. Code § 32.1-163.2 requires the Board of Health (Board) to develop and revise a five-year plan for the handling and disposal of onsite sewage. The Board must report to the Governor and the General Assembly every five years on the status of the onsite sewage program in Virginia and the health department’s long-range plan. The following report details the Virginia Department of Health’s (VDH) progress and the current status of the onsite sewage program.

The Division of Onsite Sewage, Water Services, Environmental Engineering, and Marina Programs, Office of Environmental Health Services (OEHS) assists the Board and the State Health Commissioner with developing statewide regulation and policy for the onsite sewage program. Using the 10 essential services for environmental public health, OEHS prevents the spread of human diseases associated with water and wastewater. These diseases include, but are not limited to hepatitis, cholera, epidemic viral gastro-enteritis, shigellosis, salmonellosis, and amoebiasis. The basic tenet of the program is to prevent contact with the various forms of wastewater and sewage by ensuring that sewage systems and water supplies are properly designed, installed, inspected, operated, and maintained.

VDH implements regulations via 35 health districts comprising 119 local health departments. From 2001 through 2006, the agency struggled to deal with a dramatic rise in demand for onsite sewage services. At the height of that rise, VDH received about 38,000 applications for onsite sewage system permits per year. Since 2007, total applications have decreased to around 15,000. VDH continues to estimate there are about one million onsite sewage systems currently discharging about 82.5 billion gallons of wastewater into the soil each year.

Significant change resulted from several legislative mandates since VDH last submitted its five year plan in January, 2006. The past five years witnessed more legislative activity than any previous five year period in VDH’s history. These legislative changes had dramatic impact on VDH’s program and its funding sources. This legislation will continue to influence the onsite sewage program for the foreseeable future. Presently, the Board has eight regulatory actions in process from legislative activity during the past five years and from mandatory periodic reviews.

Several emerging issues are likely to affect the program over the next five years: operation and maintenance (O&M) requirements, wastewater reuse, rainwater harvesting, protecting the Chesapeake Bay from nutrient pollution, health equity initiatives for water and sewer, seeking ways to assist owners financially in upgrading onsite sewage systems and repairing failing systems, and increasing VDH’s collaboration with the private sector. These emerging issues will impact the services VDH provides to the public to protect public health and groundwater supplies.