2008 Issue

www.utahengineerscouncil.org 16 U TAH, A LANDOFMAJESTICMOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND DESERTS, IS A HOME TO 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE. UTAH IS 84,900 SQUAREMILES AND RANKED THE 11TH largest state (in terms of square miles) in the U.S. HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM Thirty per cent of Utah’s population is served by individual, clustered, or community type decentralized systems. In other words, 28 billion gallons (104 billion liters) of ef- fluent is discharged annually in the ground. This is significant in terms of protection of public health and ground water quality. Partnership with local health departments as administrators, public, designers and in- stallers, and operators is the cornerstone for fair, consistent, responsible and responsive administration of the decentralized systems program. In the 1960s, collection of wastewater through sewer and treatment at a central plant was a prevalent way of wastewater disposal. This approach gained acceptance due to a large number of failures of onsite sys- DECENTRALIZED SYSTEMS PROGRAM IN UTAH By Kiran L. Bhayani, P. E., D.EE . tems and manageability of one system versus numerous systems and economies of scale in construction and operation. For rural areas where population is usually spread over a large area, size of collection systemmade this approach questionable. Besides, high cost of construction and operation of conventional systems and required skills for operation and maintenance made central systems unat- tractive for small and rural communities. Generally, onsite systems are best suited for relatively level, well drained lots with deep, moderately permeable soils. For many sites, onsite systems may not be perfect. Pressures of developing steep, shallow soil depth, poorly draining soils and shallow ground water table sites using onsite systems became inevitable as population grew. All suitable land with the required permeable soil, ground water table separation and separation from land or water body features has been developed. Since the 1960s, the ConstructionGrants program administered by the US Environ- mental Protection Agency covered 55 to 85 percent of the community’s wastewater construction costs. In 1987, the program was phased out and converted to state revolving loan funds which communities can borrow for part of wastewater construction costs. Thus, the need to make right and affordable wastewater disposal decision placed an em- phasis on decentralized systems. PROGRAM BACKGROUND In 1954, the State Legislature passed the UtahWater Pollution Control Act which au- thorized the then UtahWater Pollution Con- trol Committee to promulgate rules for water pollution control. The Committee adopted rules which came to be known as Individual and Large UndergroundWastewater disposal systems rules. The Bureau of General Sanita- tion within the Utah Department of Health administered these rules in partnership with local health departments. In 1985, the rules were updated as experience was gained in onsite systems operation. Continued popu- lation growth placed pressure for developing sites with limiting conditions. In 1991, the Utah Department of Envi- ronmental Quality was created. The newly formed department took over the responsi-