New state and local water regulations would require the inspection of nearly every Malibu home over the next seven years. Costs could run from several hundred dollars to thousands, if a new system is required.
By Hans Laetz/ Special to the Malibu Times
Nearly every Malibu residential septic system will have to be inspected, and upgraded if necessary, over the next seven years, city officials said, as one of the largest California coastal cities without a centralized sewage collection and treatment system acts to protect its coastal waters.
“Times are changing and we have to stay ahead of the curve,” said Craig George, the city’s Environmental and Building Safety Manager. “I’m confidant there is a will to do it.”
The new water regulation rules mean that newer disposal systems may have to be installed to replace old ones. Easy installations can cost $20,000, but some locations that are geologically difficult, or under yards, driveways or walls, might cost several times more than that, local experts said.
At the very least, local governments in California may start requiring homeowners to survey their existing septic tanks and show that they are still functioning. The inspection alone could be a costly requirement for older houses.
Septic permits might also be required when single-family homes are sold or remodeled, depending on how state regulations are implemented, a city official said.
“This is a new process that we’re going through, and Malibu is one of the first to tighten things,” said Mayor Pro Tem Ken Kearsley.
Malibu has begun an outreach effort to let homeowners know about regulations enacted in 2002, when the city tightened its building codes. Those rules have already been in effect for new construction and remodels since then.
At issue are new state water laws, which will no longer rely on building codes to specify what types of septic systems are acceptable and how they will be built. New regulations, as a result of the law passed in 2000 called AB 885, will soon set specific performance standards for water that, by design, seeps out of onsite disposal systems.
A second regulatory agency, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, is also about to implement rules cracking down on the amount of nitrogen and bacteria that can be carried in the liquid discharge emitted by all onsite sewage systems.
And that means Malibu homeowners could have to replace septic systems with higher-tech disposal systems that will have to be tested and adjusted regularly.
“It used to be out of sight, out of mind,” George said. “That can no longer be the case.”
A typical, older septic tank uses a 1,500-gallon concrete container to hold household sewage, which sits in the tank while bacteria eat the solid waste. As designed, liquid waste flows out of a “T” connection in the tank and into underground dispersal lines or pits, where soil theoretically will remove all organisms as the liquid seeps away.
But the new state rules regulate that liquid discharge will now have to be treated before it is released to seep away underground. (Systems that are close to the ocean, Malibu Lagoon and Creek will be impacted by the new regulations, but it is not known, until the final rules are drafted and released, whether systems located inland, away from local sources of water will be affected as well.)
“Everyone who owns a septic tank is a wastewater discharger, and they are regulated by state law as to what they can discharge,” George said.
Such systems are new to the market, and their prices are dropping, as they are being mass-produced, George said.
Recently built homes that have good documentation for their disposal systems will be able to pass the new tests but will have to be maintained and inspected regularly. Inspections would also be required on remodeling projects, or if a house is sold, George said.
Older systems will at the least need to be surveyed to ensure they are working as designed. Contractors can do that for a simple system for several hundred dollars, George said.
The problem will be older systems that have been encroached upon by walls, landscaping or driveways, which will drastically increase the survey costs, he said. (The cost of a permit for a new system, if required, is not known at this time.)
Owners of homes built long ago, with old systems and poor official records, will have to survey to describe exactly how and where their sewage is currently treated, and show that the system has not failed. Given that a 30-year life expectancy for septic systems is not unusual, some owners will have to install new systems.
Kearsley noted that both the AB 885 statewide inspection rules, and Los Angeles regional nitrogen and bacteria rules, are still being drawn up. Depending on those rules, a significant percentage of Malibu homeowners will have to replace their septic systems in the next few years, even if they are functioning in accordance with their original design specifications.
“We have to do something to clean up these creeks and the ocean,” he said.
As for the cost, Kearsley noted that it cost him $5,000 in 1962 to build a septic system for his then-new house, which cost $38,000 at the time. “You have to keep things in perspective,” he said.