More than 15% of the septic systems in Leelanau County evaluated last year were found to be non-compliant.
So say the results of a year-end report from the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department (BLDHD).
The report, shared with the Board of Health, identified 39 of 255 septic system evaluated in the first year of the new point-of-sale NSC (Not in Substantial Compliance).
“About 15 to 16% of inspections resulted in the need for corrective action,” said Ty Wessell, who sits on the Board of Health.
In 1990, neighboring Benzie County implemented an ordinance that requires septic system inspections whenever a home is bought, sold, or transferred. On numerous occasions in the coming years, Leelanau commissioners considered aligning county policies with the existing septic inspections in Benzie County, due in part to the fact that the two counties share a health department.
Repeatedly, though, those motions failed to generate enough support. Lacking county support for point-of-sale evaluations, several Leelanau communities adopted regulations of their own.
Glen Arbor Township lead the county adopting regulations in 2014. Empire and Cleveland township followed suit in 2019; Centerville in 2020 and the Village of Empire and Bingham Township, in 2021.
In 2022, the script flipped and the new ordinance was supported by a majority of county commissioners, becoming effective Jan. 27, 2023. In its first six months of enforcement, the health department inspected 24 sewage (only) systems and found four to be unsatisfactory. According to a report given to the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Board, as of Aug. 11, 2023, 171 inspections were completed for sewage/wastewater systems combined and of those 14.26% were determined to be “unsatisfactory.” Three water systems were in need of correction, according to the report.
By comparison, between 1998 and 2007, 7.46% of the systems evaluated in Benzie County were found to be NSC. Between 2014 and 2023, this had fallen to 4.23%.
Prior to adoption of the countywide septage ordinance, 20.7% of the septic systems evaluated under “local” inspection guidelines were NSC.
That year, eight of the 234 septic systems evaluated in Benzie County were NSC, or 3.4%.
Meanwhile, in Lansing, lawmakers are examining a statewide septic inspection ordinance for the Great Lakes state — the only state in the country lacking an ordinance.
