Sonoma County launches public input campaign on new septic system rules

Sonoma County is launching a series of public meetings Wednesday to gather public input as it prepares to update rules for the estimated 45,000-plus septic systems in the unincorporated areas.

Wednesday's meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building, the first of five such gatherings planned in the coming weeks for each of the more rural quadrants of the county.

The campaign comes after the Board of Supervisors asked state regulators in May for a six-month extension on creating new septic system policies, following a series of concerns raised by rural homeowners. The county has been working in good faith with the state since then, county officials said this week.

One of the key objections from residents earlier this year was that the new rules could force them to make costly and unnecessary upgrades to their septic systems when seeking building permits. Now, county officials are looking to require septic upgrades only when a homeowner seeks a building permit that would result in an increased strain on their septic system, according to west county Supervisor Lynda Hopkins.

“In other words, not any building permit will trigger a septic upgrade,” Hopkins said. “Only building upgrades that increase the flow of water through the system would trigger a septic upgrade.”

The county also is exploring the use of composting toilets in unincorporated areas, an alternative wastewater technology that Hopkins said many of her constituents want to try. If ultimately approved by supervisors, the policy change would allow homeowners to follow the footsteps of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, which already has a composting toilet through a trial program authorized by the county.

“They had to jump through a lot of hoops in order to get that pilot program approved,” Hopkins. “This would be opening that up to constituents throughout the county.”

Following Wednesday's meeting in Petaluma, the county will host another septic policy session at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Monte Rio Community Center.

Additional meetings are planned Oct. 10 at Healdsburg's Villa Chanticleer Annex; Oct. 15 at the Sonoma Veterans Memorial Building; and Oct. 17 at the Guerneville Veterans Memorial Building. Those three meetings are all scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

The public's input will be incorporated into the draft septic policy manual, which supervisors are set to consider in November.

Additional information can be found online at sonomacounty.ca.gov/Permit/Septic-Policy-Update.

You can reach Staff Writer J.D. Morris at 707-521-5337 or jd.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @thejdmorris.