One third of all new homes built in the region will be installing septic systems instead of hooking up to sewer systems.

Septic systems are common to the more rural areas of Puget Sound, but a large number of homes and businesses in the urban areas of the region also use septic instead of public sewers. And the number is growing.

And, with 1.4 million more people expected to be moving to the region by 2025, septic systems will put an additional strain on the human and environmental health of the region.

When properly designed, installed, operated and maintained, septic systems protect the health and the quality of the Sound by keeping excess nutrients and pathogens from human and animal waste from entering waterways.

• What is the problem?
• Why the new focus on septic systems?
• What’s being done to make septic systems healthier for Puget Sound?
• Taking care of your septic system
• Learn more / find resource

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What’s the problem?

When septic systems don’t function properly, they can pollute groundwater and streams, shorelines and the open waters of the Sound. Untreated bacteria, viruses and chemicals threaten human health, contaminate shellfish and other organisms, and can disrupt the functions of a healthy ecosystem.

Even properly operating systems can leach excess nutrients into our waterways. The Puget Sound Partnership works with citizens, community groups, septic installers, local health districts and citizens groups to better manage, maintain and monitor septic systems.

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Why the new focus on septic systems?

Once regarded as inferior to community treatment plants, septic systems are gaining recognition as viable alternatives to public sewer facilities for several reasons:

• The high cost of extending sewers beyond the urban boundaries and maintaining them.
• When water from reservoirs is used.
• Tremendous improvements in onsite sewage system technology.
• Public preference for larger residential lot sizes that make sewers uneconomical.
• The growing awareness of the potential for chemical and biological materials carried in sewage to cause environmental damage.

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What’s being done to make septic systems safer for Puget Sound ?

Puget Sound Partnership staff work with state agencies, local health agencies, onsite sewage system designers and installers, community groups and citizens to encourage stronger management of septic systems. Partnership staff and state and local agencies focus their efforts in four key areas:

• Help owners improve their knowledge and ability to monitor and maintain their systems.
• Increase the ability of local regulators and private-sector providers to offer diagnostic and management services.
• Better organize the regulation and management of septic systems.
• Encourage communities to include septic facilities when they review the “systems of sewerage” element of their comprehensive plans.

In 2005, Washington State Board of Health adopted new regulations to require local health agencies to develop onsite sewage program management plans.

In 2006, Washington State Department of Health published guidance documents and distributed state funding to assist the development of the local management plans.

Washington State Department of Ecology is funding local grant and loan programs to help owners repair malfunctioning systems.

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Taking care of your septic system

You can help keep Puget Sound and surrounding waters free from harmful pathogens and nutrients. If your home or business has a septic system or you are building a new home or business that will have a septic system, it helps to get educated.

>> Find out how to care for your septic system

  >> Learn more / Resources

For more information about the Puget Sound Partnership’s work with onsite sewage systems, contact info@psp.wa.gov.