Submitted by Dave Cherry, ROWP, WCOWMA-BC,  Vice-President

We are now ten years down the road from the launch of the new Sewerage System Regulation that changed everything for everyone in the onsite wastewater business.   I don’t think anyone will deny that the new way of doing things made the onsite wastewater industry better for everyone involved, especially the end user, i.e. the homeowner.

Before the introduction of the SSR, installing a simple septic system was complicated and time consuming. Installing package treatment systems was almost impossible, and if it was permitted it took a long time and several frustrating phone calls to the Health Inspector before it was ever completed, and you got paid for it.

After June 1^st 2005, it all seemed so simple. The planner just had to decide which system worked best for the site, the installer then dug a hole, placed the treatment unit, filled it with water and back filled. All that was left was to connect the power.  Then voila, onsite sewer treatment for sites that were once problematic.   But, that also introduced a few new problems.

Those of us who are retreads from the bad old days before the SSR, rarely had to deal with anything that required electricity. Sure, there were effluent pumps, but that was pretty simple. There were very few control panels or alarm boxes. Those were all left to the complicated engineered systems.  All that was required was running some sort of power line out to the pump tank then attaching an outlet box, and plugging in the pump with a piggyback float. It all seemed so simple, at least for the first few years until corrosion took its toll. Then the problems started which led to messy repairs that nobody wanted, especially the homeowner.

As far as electrical components of an onsite system go things are getting better. However doing maintenance on now aging pump tanks and package treatment systems uncovers some really serious issues with some of the electrical components.  I still find metal electrical junction boxes or electrical outlet boxes inside pump tanks where the corrosive atmosphere destroys them in short order, or electrical cords with little or no mechanical protection hanging under a control panel and alarm boxes right where a lawn mower or weed trimmer can cut through the outer skin and expose bare wires.  I’ve even found a lawn mower extension cord buried under the lawn and plugged into the carport outlet.

I am not just referring to old systems installed before June of 2005, but systems installed after the SSR came to life and often within the last five years. I can only assume these are bad habits handed down from the mentors of the pre-SSR days.

We’ve all heard it said, “You leave your name on everything you do”, and in this business it is very true. Since the big change in 2005 ROWPs cannot hide from their work because their name and their stamp are quite literally on the documents. In those bad old days it was easy to say, “what the heck, it worked didn’t it?”, but when a simple repair becomes an expensive redo everyone is unhappy, especially the homeowner and that reflects badly on our industry and on ROWPs in general.

In BC, ROWPs are not permitted to do electrical work. This means running power cables from a panel or tapping into an existing circuit must be done by a licenced electrical contractor. It’s the electrician’s responsibility to make sure the electrical supply to the treatment system is safe and meets the required code. But ROWPs have a role in this as well. It is our responsibility to design and install equipment that is safe and readily serviceable. Power cords between panels and pumps or floats must be protected by conduit and easily accessible so they can be serviced or replaced without entering the chamber or hanging by our heels to reach a junction box.   Chopping a hole through a plastic lid or riser to accommodate electrical cords is a throwback from the bad old days and should never be part of a new system installed by a ROWP.  Unfortunately I still see this from time to time.

After a decade of learning the new way to build an onsite system things are definitely getting better, but I think there is room for more improvement.  As ROWPs, we want to be recognized as professional people providing technical services, so we need to take a moment with each project and ask ourselves, “Am I proud of the finished project?” If you are then I’m sure the homeowner will be too, and so will the maintenance person that shows up a few years later.

To quote Red Green, another pre-2005 mentor, “We’re all in this together”.