Comm 83 Revision Would Change Rules of the Game for Wastewater Treatment

One of the major issues fueling the land use debate in Wisconsin is the availability -- or non-availability -- of wastewater treatment facilities. On one hand, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has adopted a policy that restricts the development of new municipal wastewater treatment facilities. On the other hand, many cities operating treatment systems refuse to allow homeowners or developers to hook up to their facilities unless the land is annexed. The alternative for property owners who want to remain in a town has often been to install private on-site sewage disposal systems. This option has often been limited, however, by technological, cost and regulatory constraints. Now a new administrative rule under development by a state agency could alter this equation by giving the private sector the regulatory flexibility to develop innovative and cost-effective on-site systems.

The Department of Commerce has proposed a completely rewritten code (Comm 83) regulating what is now called "privately owned wastewater treatments systems" or "POWTS" (i.e., septic systems). Unlike the code it would replace, the new rules would prescribe end results -- the purity of groundwater discharged from the system -- instead of the specific characteristics of the installation. For example, rather than specifying by rule the exact length and depth of drainage fields, the revised code addresses how clean the discharged water must be to be in compliance. In effect, the revised POWTS code is equivalent to performance-based building codes.

In addition to allowing greater flexibility, The Commerce Department hopes that this new approach will encourage the private sector to develop new treatment technologies. An estimated 1.5 million Wisconsin citizens (nearly one-third of the state's population) are currently served by about 600,000 privately owned treatment systems of one kind or another. The new code would apply to the 18,000 new and replacement systems installed in the state annually and to all 50,000 holding tank systems now in operation.

The new rule has not been welcomed by all, however. Some argue that the new rule would encourage urban sprawl. However, others respond that the availability of suitable wastewater treatment systems should be based on technical considerations and should not be held hostage to the land use debate. They characterize the rule as "neutral" on the urban sprawl issue and suggest that the proper regulatory tools for land use are planning and zoning -- not artificial regulatory limits on the availability of wastewater treatment options.

For urban towns, the issues raised by Comm 83 are critical. If approved, the enhanced flexibility it allows may diminish the monopolistic grip some city's now have on wastewater treatment facilities. More importantly, it will stimulate innovative new wastewater technologies. Indeed, some experts predict that on-site systems may be the wave of the future, replacing big municipal systems just as personal computers have largely displaced mainframe computers.

WTA Position on Land Use