ISDS 



would be adequate to ensure sufficient effluent treatment. The two primary regulatory 

 provisions specified that: 



• Outside the incorporated cities and towns, PHD would not grant an ISDS permit - 

 necessary for new construction- on lots less than five acres in size, and 



• Inside the incorporated cities and towns, PHD would grant ISDS permits as long as 

 the municipality had negotiated a contractual sewage management agreement (SMA) 

 with the Health District 



The SMAs have several important features. Each starts with a group of tailored 

 stipulations, enabling parties to the contract to recognize each other's responsibilities and 

 roles. Secondly, each contract contains specific provisions tailored to the municipality in 

 question which must be fulfilled in order for the PHD to continue to issue pennits for new 

 ISDS in the municipality. SMAs are negotiated annually by staff, but are approved by the 

 mayor or town council of the municipality and the Board of the PHD. 



A recent SMA with the Town of Athol, for example, included the following provisions: 



• All new ISDS as required by the PHD must have the date of installation, location, 

 size, and type of all components in the system recorded at the City Hall with the lot 

 size. 



• All ISDS should be pumped when sludge depth is one-third of the liquid depth of 

 the tank, or every five years, whichever comes first The city will give notification 

 twice a year that ISDS should be pumped. 



• The city shall annually repon the number of systems installed, repaired, or pumped 

 to the PHD. 



• The city is not obligated to initiate planning or engineering for a collection and 

 treatment system as long as the city does not exceed 397 ISDS within its legal 

 boundaries. 



Although the SMAs are generally concerned primarily with the siting of new ISDS and 

 with the orderly construction of sewers and sewage treatment plants to replace them, 

 operation and maintenance provisions are also included which apply in perpetuity in non- 

 sewering areas. During the renegotiation of existing SMAs, the PHD has also included 

 restrictions on the sale, use, and disposal (in ISDS) of all organic solvents. 



Septic capitalization fees have evolved from the regulations. Developers are required to 

 pay the applicable town a fee for each ISDS installed. The fee is based upon the cost of 

 replacing the ISDS with a future sewer collection and treatment system as calculated in the 

 cost-effectiveness portion of the towns Section 201 plan for designing and developing 

 treatment facilities. The fee actually represents a discharge payment for the interim use of 

 the treatment capacity of the substrate until sewer service can be made available. 



The PHD has also been successful in dealing with large ISDS issues. In applicable 

 SMAs, the PHD has required the city to assume responsibility for the operation and 

 maintenance of any community drainfield installed after the inception of the SMA. The 

 rationale of this approach was that community drainfields (used by subdivisions and 



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