Loudoun County residents no longer will be allowed to put in high-tech septic systems, as sporadic failures have led opponents to question their safety.
The Board of Supervisors has approved a five-year ban on the systems, though opponents say they fear the ban could hurt property values in rural areas.
In addition, residents will have to get already installed nonconventional systems inspected annually. Conventional sewage systems use gravity to dispose of waste — or a pump to a gravity-distributed drain field — whereas nonconventional systems employ newer, often more complex technology.
About 1,200 of the newer systems have been installed, with about 20 failing, according to county statistics.
The restriction’s supporters cited health issues and said the county should ensure the systems work before allowing other residents to put them in.
“It has been a long, spirited debate over this issue for I think two years now,” said Jim Burton, I-Blue Ridge. “We need this timeout to step back and do a good, thorough examination of the reliability of these systems.”
Opponents argued that rural properties, some of which are more easily served by nonconventional systems, would drop in value.
“This is [an] unnecessary regulation, an imposition at a time that the county itself is going through some tough times,” said Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, R-Sterling. It’s an “onerous regulation that will destroy what’s left of western Loudoun as far as a rural economy is concerned.”
A key argument in support of the newer systems is that certain types of soil can render a site unsuitable for conventional systems. For example, areas with shallow water tables, shallow depth to rock, low permeability, or high clay content would require newer systems.
“We’re essentially saying, ‘We don’t want you. We’re closed for business. Sorry.’ And no more private schools, and no more churches, at least within the next five years in a rural area,” said Supervisor Lori Waters, R-Broad Run.
She argued that not all technologies are the same, and some nonconventional systems are better for the environment than conventional ones.
“No answer available to us is going to please everybody, but that doesn’t mean we get to walk away from making a choice … it’s worth five years of waiting and seeing how well the ones in the ground work now,” said Stevens Miller, D-Dulles.
