HomeMy WebLinkAboutbocc.res.034.1999A RESOLUTION AMENDING RESOLUTION 96-134 OF THE BOARD OF
COUNTY CO SSIONERS OF PITHIN COUNTY. COL.ORADO.
APPROVINGIBE CONCEPT OF DRIP IRRIGATION AS AN
FXPERIMENTAI, ALTERNATIVE TO WASTEWATER DISPOSAL.
Resolution # 99 -
RECITAI,S
1. The Pitkin County Board of Commissioners has declared in the pitkin County
Individual Sewage Disposal System Regulation (Regulation), support for alternative
methods of wastewater disposal not otherwise provided for in the Regulation. In this case
such an alternative system commonly known as Drip Irrigation shall be declared
"experimental".
2. The Pitkin County Board of Commissioners has declared in the Regulation that
the experimental system must be designed by a Registered Professional Engineer prior to
submittal to the Aspen/Pitkin Environmental Health Department for review.
3. The Pitkin County Board of Commissioners, acting as the Pitkin County Board of
Health (PCBOH) recognizes, and the Regulation states: "The Local Board of Health may
not arbitrarily deny any person the right to consideration of an application for such a
system and shall apply reasonable performance standards in determining whether to
approve an application."
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County
Commissioners of Pitkin County, Colorado, that the use of "Drip Irrigation" as an
experimental wastewater disposal system in Pitkin County meets the conditions of the
Regulation to be declared experimental, and sitting as the Pitkin County Board of Health
declare approval for installation of a total of eighteen (18) such systems in the County
with the following conditions:
1. Any permit for installation of a Drip Irrigation wastewater disposal system
must be issued in the name(s) of the legal owners of the property involved,
must contain an accurate description of the property, and must conspicuously
display the requirements in Section 4-20 of the Regulation, titled;
"Experimental Systems".
1
2. The Pitkin County Board of Health and the Aspen/Pitkin Environmental
Health Department will assume no liability in the act of issuing a permit for a
Drip Irrigation wastewater disposal system, either for design or performance.
3. The permit issued for a Drip Irrigation wastewater disposal system shall be
recorded in real estate records for the property served by the system. This
recording is for the purpose of putting future purchasers on notice that an
experimental sewage disposal system serves their property.
4. The applicant must commit to follow the recommendations of the
Aspen/Pitkin Environmental Health Department (Department), and those of
the Registered Professional Engineer consultant to the Department if approval
is given to install the experimental system.
5. As is stated in the Pitkin County ISDS Regulation, Section 4-20; The
applicant must provide for a "... timely installation of a backup system of a
type described in this regulation if the experimental system fails." The lot on
which a Drip Irrigation system is to be installed must be large enough to
accommodate a traditional Individual Sewage Disposal System (ISDS) so that
if the Drip Irrigation system fails and cannot be repaired, the owner will have
room to construct a replacement system. This is consistent with previous
PCBOH actions on experimental systems as found in Section 12-8.1 of the
ISDS Regulation.
6. If a "water balance" method of calculating waste load is applied, the applicant
must provide a monitoring plan to determine the saturation status of soils,
especially in the early spring months when the leaching bed is at its peak
storage.
7. The applicant must provide a written report to the Environmental Health
Department documenting maintenance on the system (such as when the filters
are changed and when the valve regulating field use is activated). The soil
saturation data requested in condition 6 above must also be reported. The
reporting must continue for a period of five (5) years, and be submitted to the
Environmental Health Department in January of each year.
8. The installation of a filter after the final septic tank to remove any material
which may remain to clog the distribution line ports will be required.
9. Since Drip Irrigation is promoted as an ISDS that is suitable for poor
percolating soils, it assumes the form of a modified evapotranspiration (ET)
system. In some cases it may be an evaotranspiration/absorption system using
both air and plant evaporation with minimal soil absorption. Section 12-6.4 of
the Pitkin County ISDS Regulation requires placement of these type systems,
"...in an area where there is exposure to sunshine enough days per year and
hours per day to allow for adequate functioning of the system, and must take
into account the number of months per year in which the area is covered with
snow. ET systems may not be used in shaded north -facing areas in valleys,
for example, but must be in areas that are open to sunshine and exposed to
sufficient breezes."
♦v . •
10. Pitkin County ISDS Regulation requires a water flow "peaking factor" in the
design of ISDS. However, since no "daily peaking factor" is figured in the
calculation of the Drip Irrigation wastewater disposal system, and this is a
significant variation from the Regulation, this requirement is waived with the
condition that only a total of eighteen (18) systems using this modification be
allowed in Pitkin County until it can be verified that the public health of
residents, and the environmental health of surface and ground water is not
compromised.
11. The owner will be required to submit a final "as -built" drawing to the
Environmental Health Department upon completion of the installation. This
drawing must be submitted by the engineer (or his/her designated
representative) who provided the approved design that was the basis for
permit issuance.
APPROVED AND ADOPTED ON THE 10th DAY OF March 1999.
PUBLISHED AFTER ADOPTION IN THE ASPEN TIMES ON THE 13th DAY OF
lvlarch, 1999
Je. -tte Jones
D : uty Clerk & ' ecorder
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ti
John Ely, County e .rney
RECOMMENDATION FOR ADOPTION:
Thomas S. Dunlop, Director
Environmental Health Department
water.dripre99.doc
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO
eslie J. Lamolit, Chairperson
Date: 1 / 1 / 9
MANAGER APPROVAL