The future: more questions than answers 



Since beach houses and summer fun and normal 

 population growth are a fact of life, the septic tank 

 problems in coastal North Carolina won't vanish 

 overnight. Sanitarians will continue to face the 

 insistent demands for just one more house. Busi- 

 nessmen will continue to demand a clear path to 

 the tourist's dollar. And tourists will continue to 

 demand their place in the sun. 



Septic tanks and sewage disposal plants are 

 already taxed to capacity in some places. David 

 Stick, vice chairman of the Coastal Resources 

 Commission, says existing regulations are out- 

 dated. 



Questions arise about the carrying capacity of 

 different regions, how far septic tanks must be 

 from bodies of water, whether the cumulative effect 

 of ostensibly correct septic tanks will turn out to be 

 detrimental, what the viable alternatives are, what 

 can be done about existing problems not covered 

 under construction-oriented regulations. And the 

 state is only beginning to learn what the relevant 

 questions about long-term consequences are. 



What's being done? 



Clearly, damage has already been done. The 

 question is: How much, and what must be done to 

 stop further damage? 



To help answer that question: 



— The Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) 

 is taking a look at the situation. The CRC's aim, 

 according to Kenneth D. Stewart, executive direc- 

 tor, is "to stimulate the agencies that presently 

 have authority in this area to act." The CRC hopes 

 to impress upon local governments their existing 

 authority to regulate septic tanks, upon state 

 agencies the need to enforce existing regulations, 

 upon the Commission for Health Services the need 

 to adopt stricter guidelines, and upon county 

 governments the need to consider sewage disposal 

 in their development plans for the Coastal Area 

 Management Act. 



Observers say in a pinch the CRC could possibly 

 exercise some more direct control in the Areas of 

 Environmental Concern (AECs). But that control 

 would be fragmentary, they say, at best. It could 

 be extensive in some counties, but not in others, 

 they say. 



— Federal and state government are offering 

 some limited money to municipalities for planning 

 and construction in direct point-source waste treat- 

 ment. Several coastal communities and counties, 

 among them Surf City, Carteret County and the 

 Dare County Outer Banks, have received a share of 

 this "201 money." But Barry Williams, head of 

 the Department of Natural and Economic Re- 

 sources task force on 201 planning, says the money 



will likely soon run out. It is, he says, "not going to 

 take care of the septic tank problem by any means." 



Besides, he says, despite the number of coastal 

 communities involved, the 201 planning money is 

 "still really taking care of a small geographic area 

 of the coast." No construction money has been 

 awarded in the coastal area. 



Further, none of the limited federal area-wide 

 water quality planning money has gone to the 

 coast, either. 



Where to turn? 



Some people say the only way to turn is to the 

 ocean to dump treated sewage offshore from re- 

 gional systems. That possibility is being studied 

 under several grants in the state. The Coastal 

 Plains Regional Commission and the Environmen- 

 tal Protection Agency recently appropriated money 

 for a study of the environmental and economic 

 effects of disposing of municipal sewage through 

 ocean outfall. And L. J. Pietrafesa, NCSU, is study- 

 ing ocean circulation characteristics for outfall 

 possibilities under UNC Sea Grant funding. 



Objections to ocean outfall have been raised. And 

 some scientists say there should be other alterna- 

 tives. Dr. B. L. Carlile, assistant professor of soil 

 science at NCSU, says on-land irrigation of sewage 

 over the vast wastelands along the coast would be 

 a better alternative for larger systems. 



For smaller systems, for all those scattered back- 

 yards, Carlile is studying several methods with the 

 hope of developing something that will only be half- 

 again as expensive as conventional septic tanks 

 (under $1,000). 



Carlile sees most promise for the coastal areas 

 in a low pressure pipe system, and a mound system 

 that provides an artificial nitrification field well 

 above the water table. Carlile's methods are being 

 tried out in a development in Perquimans County 

 on Holiday Island. 



The long-range questions, though, are far from 

 being answered. Some say there are simply no 

 good alternatives to septic tanks and that the 

 answer must lie in some sort of large-scale regional 

 systems. The questions, at least, are beginning to 

 be asked. But, the answers still lie in the future. 



The University of North Carolina Sea Grant Program 

 Newsletter is published monthly by the University of North 

 Carolina Sea Grant Program, 1235 Burlington Laboratories, 

 Yarborough Drive, North Carolina State University, 

 Raleigh, N.C. 27607. Vol. 3, No. 4 April, 1976. Dr. B. J. 

 Copeland, director. Written and edited by Dixie Berg and 

 Karen Jurgensen. Second-class postage paid at Raleigh, 

 N.C. 27611. 



