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N. C. 



Doc. 



NORTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRARY 

 RALEIGH 



JUL 2 8 1977 



BDCaOWUBgDW ®P MOM SaBOlDBOa 



February, 1977 



1235 Burlington Laboratories 

 NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27607 Tel: (919) 737-2U5U 



Septic tanks: hope for the coast 



It was a pleasant surprise for Eddie O'Neal to 

 read one day that there are alternatives to con- 

 ventional septic tank systems. 



It was almost a relief. 



About a year ago O'Neal began trying to get ap- 

 proval to develop a marina in Swan Quarter. But 

 because his soil wasn't good 

 enough for a conventional sys- 

 tem — it wouldn't percolate — 

 O'Neal was running into troubles 

 with the permit-giving agencies. 



"I talked to people in the state 

 agencies and they said a septic 

 tank won't work here. Well, I 

 could see that. So I said, I know, 

 but isn't there any other way? 

 And they said 'No.' " 



Then, O'Neal read a short 

 article in the newspaper about 

 a man at North Carolina State 

 University named Dr. Bobby 

 Carlile who is testing alter- 

 natives to conventional septic 

 systems — alternatives that are 

 especially geared for the' problem 

 soils of the coastal counties. 



So the next time O'Neal spoke 

 to the permit agencies he men- 

 tioned Carlile's work. Eddie 



"I found it hard to believe, but they'd never 

 heard of him," O'Neal said. 



Undaunted, he called Carlile and explained his 

 problem. Would O'Neal like to try an experimental 

 alternative system? Of course, he replied. 



"Dr. Carlile was looking for a place to try his 

 system out: not strictly an experimental site, 

 but one that would be in the real world and not 



under a control test situation," O'Neal said. "So 

 I was helping him out and he was helping me — 

 probably he was helping me a whole lot more." 



Through various negotiations, Carlile and 

 O'Neal got permission to install an experimental 

 mound system on O'Neal's property. Work will 

 begin as soon as the weather 

 "dries up." The state will be 

 closely monitoring surrounding 

 waters to see how well the alter- 

 native system works. And O'Neal 

 is required to have a back-up 

 system for his two rest rooms in 

 case the mound fails: he's plan- 

 ning on trucking his sewage to 

 another system if the need arises. 



But despite the complications, 

 he's convinced that testing alter- 

 natives is the way to go : 



"We've got septic systems in 

 these coastal counties that are 

 not working. Every year more 

 shellfishing waters are closed. 

 But people are going to keep 

 building. What we need is a more 

 concerted effort at every level of 

 government so each knows what 

 the other one is doing and so they 

 ° Nea realize conventional systems are 



already failing and we have to try something else. 



"Why keep paddling down the same stream? 

 Why say there are no alternatives and you can't 

 do anything? 



"That will only make people frustrated and mad. 

 And they'll try and sneak by. And that will hurt 

 all of us." 



