by Scott Brown
MWA e-Newsletter Editor
Responding to the sad fact that Michigan remains the only state within the United States of America that has not yet enacted a common sense statewide septic system code, the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners recently voted to help protect public health and extraordinarily valuable freshwater ecosystems by unanimously passing a countywide septic ordinance. Defined by 132 miles of Great Lakes coastal shoreline, 146 named inland lakes, many more unnamed lakes, and two major rivers, a recently published story regarding the rare action by For Love of Water Advocates aptly describes passage of the ordinance as Grant Traverse County “positioning itself as a leader in safeguarding public health and freshwater resources in the absence of a statewide septic code.”
The recently enacted Grant Traverse County ordinance indicates that beginning on January 1, 2026, any property with a septic system that is located within 300 feet of any above-ground body of freshwater such as lakes, ponds, streams, or rivers–must be evaluated before it can be sold or transferred. Passage of the ordinance came in response to the fact that Grand Traverse County commissioners as well as officials from the county health department recognized that a properly functioning septic system is essential to preventing pathogens as well as harmful nutrients and chemical pollution from entering freshwater ecosystems and groundwater aquifers.
The action taken by Grand Traverse County to help protect human health and economically valuable freshwater ecosystems is particularly noteworthy due to the fact that only 13% of counties in Michigan have enacted local regulations that require septic systems to be evaluated. It is also important to note that hundreds of thousands of failing septic systems in Michigan continue to be a major source of e-coli and human fecal bacteria laden raw sewage that contaminates our ground water, and renders the waters of many our lakes, rivers, and streams unfit for total contact water sports such as swimming or snorkeling.
The steadily escalating environmental and public health associated problem in Michigan is derived from that fact that approximately 20%, or 280,000, of the 1.4 million septic systems that were constructed during the residential building boom of the 1950’s and 1960’s throughout Michigan are now failing. The overall significance of on-going problem has also been exacerbated by the fact that many Michigan homes and their now severely antiquated and often dysfunctional septic systems were built prior to the construction of sewer systems that now serve even the smallest of towns and villages.
Septic systems, otherwise known as on-site waste water disposal systems, are designed and installed in order to manage and treat the waste generated by toilets before it reaches ground water. In a properly designed septic system, the septic tank serves to remove larger solids from wastewater. Wastewater that flows out of the septic tank is saturated with contaminants that must be removed before the water can safely be combined with surface and/or groundwater. Public health issues stem from the fact that septic tank effluent contains large concentrations of toxic micro-organisms that are capable of making people sick. Moreover, the organic matter present in wastewater effluent creates bad odors, and contains algae growth stimulating nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) that can have a negative impact on the aquatic ecosystems of our inland lakes, rivers, and streams. Properly designed septic systems include a disposal field comprised of a mixture of sand, silt, and clay that are often referred to as loamy soils that act to successfully treat bacterial and inorganic compounds. Phosphorus that is produced within the household that passes through the septic tank is also captured within a properly designed disposal field’s soil.
On-site waste water disposal systems continue to be installed in support of residential and commercial development that occurs in rural settings where sanitary sewer systems are not available. According to Michigan State University Extension, when an on-site waste water disposal system is correctly located, properly designed, carefully installed, regularly inspected, and properly maintained, they serve as effective waste disposal systems that are economical and that do not pose a threat to public health or to the fragile ecosystems of surrounding streams, rivers, and lakes.
The gravity of the situation in Michigan is also effectively illustrated by the fact that the results of a 2015 study conducted by Michigan State University researchers on sixty-four Michigan rivers revealed that concentrations of e-coli that were higher than U. S. Environmental Protection Agency permitted water quality standards. The significance of the issue is also amplified by the fact that the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lake, and Energy (EGLE) reports that approximately one half of Michigan’s thousands of miles of rivers and streams suffer from concentrations of toxic e-coli that exceed minimum water quality standards.