A recently scheduled meeting of the Quorum Court's Legislative Committee was cancelled due to a conflict with other committees and will be rescheduled at a later date. This is the committee that is reviewing the proposed septic tank ordinance that would require an inspection of the septic system on rural property before it can be sold. Originally this proposal was forwarded to the Quorum Court's Committee of the Whole, but was returned to the Legislative Committee to obtain more information on its practicality. Even many homes inside the city limits of large cities, such as Rogers, are on septic systems because the terrain frequently makes running sewer lines up and down hills impractical. I have never heard a count of the number of homes on single property septic-type systems. However many areas in Bella Vista did not have access to city sanitation systems -- sewer lines -- when they were constructed and Bella Vista was not a city. Ironically, the only areas being subjected to the inspections under this proposal are the homes in "rural" Benton County. The Quorum Court does not have the authority to approve an ordinance that would affect property within any city limits even if the home is on a septic system. That doesn't sound very effective to me if the purpose of the ordinance is to protect the quality of our water supply from a possible defective system.
The State Health Department has authority over the installation of septic systems and they, not the Quorum Court, are the ones you call if you discover a defective system smelling up a neighborhood. When we were dealing with the proposed ordinance to mandate the regular pumping of septic tanks several years ago, the proposed ordinance was rejected by the Quorum Court. It was shown to be unnecessary, expensive and actually could lead to slowing down the action of the bacteria which make a system function. The problem came up because some uninformed citizens tried to blame pollution of a Bella Vista lake on defective septic tanks when actual investigation revealed it was a problem of geese polluting the lake. Overly enthusiastic "would-be professionals" were willing to impose their solution to a non-existent problem on a lot of unaware citizens.
We live in a magnificent area of a free country and, as part of our heritage, we have a government that is supposed to respond to the needs of the citizens. This form of government solicits input from the public and we are seeing some of the concern of those proposing this ordinance to the legislative branch of Benton County's government. What would be most meaningful, in my opinion, would be for the creators of this and similar proposals to look at the unintended consequences on all the property that would be affected if this ordinance is approved by the Quorum Court. Some body of government would have to "train" the inspectors. Do the creators of the ordinance actually think the inspections will be free? Have they really considered who will pay for the inspections and the effect a minimum of several hundred dollars will have on the buyer and seller? Who will pay for a major error in the judgment of the inspector when it turns out there isn't really a problem with a system?
If the proposers are professional sanitation engineers, then they surely have had some chemistry, some understanding of soil composition and understand that the professionals in that field, working in the State Health Department, are the ones who set the standards we live by. Surely if the State Health Department saw the need for this practice, they would impose it state-wide.
If the effect of this proposal leads to an educational effort on septic system maintenance it will not have been in vain. If the Health Department could prepare a brochure explaining the systems function, signs of various problems and maintenance of the system, to be given to the buyer at every sale, more would be accomplished than any inspection effort. There are many ways to help protect our water supply and other aspects of our environment that could benefit all property owners not just rural residents.
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Editor's note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 10/28/2015