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Revved Up 50-Plus Specials CLASSIFIEDS Add a Classified Listing E-Edition Current E-Edition Septic Spat Public hearing gets messy over proposed septic system ordinance By Elisabeth Waldon | on November 09, 2018 SIDNEY — It was just virtually the two-hour mark when the public hearing began to screw out of control. “I want to know what the hell you’re doing with our poop once you pump it out of these new septics that we bought?” Mike Ulman of Sidney Township questions why a septic system ordinance is stuff proposed to alimony human sewage out of local rivers when human sewage is once regularly dumped on local farmland as land using regulated by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Ulman was part of a standing-room-only regulars majority who voiced their protests versus the proposed ordinance during a public hearing Monday at MontcalmPolityCollege. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon For the past five years, the Mid-Michigan District Health Department has been working with officials in Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties to whop a septic system ordinance in the weighing that lightweight septic systems are causing human sewage to spritz into local rivers. Mike Ulman listened to nearly two hours of public scuttlebutt on the proposal, but no one addressed his question — what well-nigh the human sewage that’s regularly dumped on local farmland, including wideness from his house on Muskrat Road near Dickerson Creek? Finally, the Sidney Township man had enough. From the when row of the Les Morford InstructionalTowersat MontcalmPolityCollege, he voiced his public scuttlebutt — loudly. Steve Worth who lives on Loon Lake in Crystal Township voices his concerns well-nigh a proposed septic system ordinance during a public hearing Monday at MontcalmPolityCollege, as S. Michael Scott of Howard City listens next to Worth at left. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon “I want to know what the hell you’re doing with our poop once you pump it out of these new septics that we’re going to have to buy?” he exclaimed. “Why don’t I just run a hose? And you want us to pay for new septic systems?” The standing-room-only regulars erupted into thunderclap and bottoms at this observation. The third hour of the public hearing unfurled withal these same lines, with multiple people interrupting speakers to shout out their observations and to mutter complaints to their chair neighbors. Health Department Director of Environmental Health Liz Braddock confirmed the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issues permits for human sewage disposal services to dispose of human sewage as land applications on farmland. “That’s 300 feet from the Flat River,” Ulman said. “The United States government says it’s just fine to dump human waste all over the ground but to pump it all out and tuition us for it. You tuition us considering you’re saying it’s our fault.” Montcalm County’s Economic Development & Physical Resources Committee on Oct. 9 unanimously voted to recommend the fullWorkbenchof Commissioners discuss the proposed septic ordinance at November’s regular meeting, which is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. However, Commissioner John Johansen, who is chairman of that committee, told the public hearing regulars that the committee voted on the recommendation “out of sequence” as the Health Department’sWorkbenchof Health has not yet created the language for the proposed ordinance. Thus, commissioners will not be voting on the ordinance at Tuesday’s meeting. Montcalm County Commissioner John Johansen of Montcalm Township explains during Monday’s public hearing that plane though Montcalm County’s Economic Development & Finance Committee voted Oct. 22 to recommend the fullWorkbenchof Commissioners legitimatize a proposed septic system ordinance, commissioners voted on the ordinance “out of sequence” as theWorkbenchof Health has not yet plane tried the ordinance language. The full workbench was expected to vote on the ordinance at Tuesday’s regular meeting, but Johansen said now that vote will not happen. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon Among the many concerns voiced by the regulars was lack of notice well-nigh the public hearing (although the Daily News published a front-page preview story last Saturday and the health department published a legal notice several weeks ago in the Daily News). “Why aren’t the township supervisors notified well-nigh this so they can notify us?” asked Deb Webber of Carson City. “I’ve talked to three or four supervisors and they weren’t notified. They were just flabbergasted.” Crystal Township Supervisor Chris Johnston, who was in the audience, raised his hand to indicate he was never made enlightened of the public hearing. Johansen protested that the septic ordinance has been discussed repeatedly at Montcalm Township Association meetings. “We’ve never been notified to tell our people when these meetings are or any of this stuff,” Johnston replied. Health Officer Marcus Cheatham told the regulars a septic system typically lasts well-nigh 30 years, maybe a few increasingly if you maintain it. This gave way to questions well-nigh why the health department wants to do inspections every 10 years instead of every 15 to 25 years. Mid-Michigan District Health Department Health Officer Marcus Cheatham, at left, began Monday’s septic system ordinance public hearing by explaining the intent overdue the proposed ordinance to a standing-room-only regulars at MontcalmPolityCollege in Sidney. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon Cheatham moreover repeatedly downplayed the proposed required inspection every 10 years, attempting to portray it as something other than an inspection, which did not go over well with the audience. “I prefer not to undeniability it an inspection,” he said to derisive responses from people who wanted the inspection to be tabbed what it is. The forfeit of the proposed requirements was moreover unclear. Health officials said the 10-year venting permit fee would forfeit from $130 to $150, but the forfeit of a private sector inspector is varied.Regularsmembers moreover voiced concerns that private sector inspectors might take wholesomeness of them by finding non-existent problems with their septic system and forcing them to pay to have them stock-still or to install an entirely new system. Aaron Snell, owner of Streamside Ecological Services in Lowell, detailed the process overdue testing local rivers for human waste. He explained how Michigan has a total soul contact water quality standard of 300 E. coli per 100 milliliters (ml), meaning if a water sample tests over that amount, you shouldn’t swim in that soul of water. Tests at 14 of 32 sites on the Flat River revealed water quality results ranged from 23 ml (well unelevated the 300 limit) to 2,420 ml. Tests at 10 sites of the Upper Maple River revealed water quality results ranged from 522 ml to 15,550 ml of E. coli. Tests at 10 sites on the Upper Pine River revealed water quality results ranged from 192 ml (well unelevated the 300 limit) to 127,550 ml of E. coli. “I’m a devil in the details kind of guy.” Ken Lehman, president of Big L. Corp., voices his concerns well-nigh multiple unclear or incomplete details in a proposed septic system ordinance during Monday’s public hearing at MontcalmPolityCollege as Montcalm County Controller-Administrator Bob Clingenpeel listens at right. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon “I think that’s the highest number that I’ve overly seen,” Snell said. “This data indicates that all three of these watersheds should be listed as wordless by the state of Michigan. The surface waters are unsafe at least at times for swimming, fishing and other activities. Human contamination appears to be prolific and widespread.” Canine scent tracking was used at some of the sites to identify sources of human waste. Snell said one stream had higher than usual test results so a dog was unliable to search upstream. “They found a pipe coming into the river with toilet paper and feces hanging out of it,” said Snell to exclamations of shock and stodge from the audience. One thing was well-spoken by the end of Monday’s public hearing: The proposed ordinance is not going to be voted on unendingly soon. “There’s a long way to go,” Cheatham said. “It’s not a washed-up deal.”   A closer squint at a proposed septic system ordinance Travis Dixon questions whether a proposed septic system ordinance is guaranteed to fix the problem of human seepage polluting local rivers during Monday’s public hearing at MontcalmPolityCollege. — DN Photo | Elisabeth Waldon The Mid-Michigan District Health Department, which governs Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties, has proposed updating its sanitary lawmaking for the three-county zone to require a venting permit for all ripened properties — residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial structures — with wastewater plumbing that is not unfluctuating to a municipal or polity sewer system regulated by the state. The proposal would moreover require all septic systems to be inspected every 10 years. All new construction projects would receive a self-ruling venting permit good for 10 years, at the end of which time the permit would have to be renewed withal with an inspection and fee. A non-conforming septic system would be specified by the health department as a system that is lightweight to the point where water and/or human waste is visible whilom ground. Health department officials have been working with officials in the three-county zone since 2012 on collaborative water quality outreach efforts without human sewage and E. coli was discovered in local rivers — including the Looking Glass River and Maple River in Clinton County, the Maple River and Pine River in Gratiot County and the Flat River in Montcalm County. The three-county zone has well-nigh 40,000 septic systems (not including municipal water systems) and health department officials say they have the goal of inspecting 4,000 of those per year if the proposed ordinance is tried by Boards of Commissioners in all three counties. Rep. Jim Lower, R-Cedar Lake, introduced House Bills 5752 and 5753 last March to modernize inspection and maintenance of septic systems. Under current state law, Michigan doesn’t pinpoint the malfunction or failure of an onsite wastewater treatment system, and the proposal would establish specific standards. Lower’s snout has stalled since March in the State House Committee on Natural Resources. 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