Work resumes on wastewater treatment alternatives
News release from Rep. Donna Walsh
One
year ago, representatives of South County town governments, DEM, CRMC and the
RI Builders Association resolved a long-standing impasse and worked out a plan
for new regulations to boost home improvement projects, open the door to new
wastewater treatment technologies and promote efforts to restore and protect
coastal ponds. DEM’s
new regulations took effect in July, 2012.
The
same taskforce that created this new regulatory approach met on April 8 to
review its effects and set out a course of action for the future. “We needed to
see what worked before we can decide what we need to do next,” said Rep. Walsh.
The
new rules exempted most home improvement projects of up to 600 square feet from
the requirement to upgrade. Even more projects would have gone forward, the
group agreed, if not for the effect Hurricane Sandy had in diverting most
contractors toward necessary repair work and away from home improvement
projects.
This
regulation is scheduled to expire in November 2014, allowing one more full
construction season, and an opportunity for the Taskforce to devise more
permanent approaches to the needs of coastal communities.
The
other key provision in the regulatory compromise reached last year was to
expand the technologies available to homeowners to upgrade their onsite
wastewater treatment systems. The taskforce has operated on the belief that more
choices will mean more competition and lower prices.
DEM
reports that it has approved two new technologies: the Singulair TNT system
and the AdvanTex
RT Treatment System. There also is a new demonstration project that was
been installed at a Charlestown home last September that uses a SoilAir system with a Geomatrix leachfield.
DEM
now recognizes composting
toilets as an effective denitrification system, although they believe its
uses are more practical at state or municipal systems, or at new homes designed
to use composting toilets. DEM and builders agreed that it is impractical to
retrofit homes for composting toilets because of the amount of plumbing changes
required.
With
ten months of experience under the new regulations, the Taskforce felt it can
see the way forward to adjusting the home improvement trigger to perhaps a
smaller square foot limit while ultimately working toward the requirement that
South County homes in critical areas undergo wastewater system upgrades when
those properties are sold. The Taskforce also wants to see more systems added
to the list of approved options.
Taskforce
members will meet again at the end of June to review hard data on the number of
home projects that have been approved, carried out or are in the pipeline, as
well as opportunities to test new technologies.
For
more information, please visit Rep. Walsh's website at
www.Rep-Donna-Walsh.com.