Sewage problems persist amid lax enforcement

NICOLVILLE, MINN. -- Flush a toilet in this community of 16 houses, and the raw sewage flows into Dobbins Creek.

Flush a toilet in an estimated 64,000 other homes across Minnesota, and the same thing happens: Untreated waste illegally ends up in creeks and ditches or bubbles above ground from failed septic systems.

The sewage is an "imminent threat to public health and safety" under state law because it spreads disease-causing bacteria. At least 95 Minnesota rivers have excessive fecal contamination, much of it from untreated waste.

State or local regulators have known about violations for years. But inconsistent and lax enforcement of regulations is allowing unsanitary conditions to persist. It's a problem across farm country, where illegal sewers have existed for decades.

"It's hard to believe that in Minnesota, the land of sky-blue waters, we still have communities like that, but there are a lot more than people think," said Jeff Freeman, assistant director of the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority, which helps finance wastewater treatment projects.

Towns that can't afford to fix the problem keep polluting. Here in Nicolville, 6 miles east of Austin, homeowners are facing potential bills of $22,000 each to construct a community treatment system. Some residents are elderly and living on fixed incomes. Regulators say they will not take legal action as long as residents work on a way to solve the problem.

But no fix is in sight in many communities. For Susan Hodge, it's already too late. She recently lost her Nicolville home to the bank. "I couldn't afford to stay here," she said.

Below Nicolville's sewage outlet pipe on Dobbins Creek, fecal bacteria have been measured at 11 times the level allowed in surface water. It flows into East Side Lake, which is part of a city park in Austin.

The bacteria thrive in human and animal intestines and are transmitted to water from untreated sewage and feedlot runoff. Drinking or accidentally ingesting tainted water can cause diarrhea, nausea and possibly jaundice. Swimmers, divers, water skiers and windsurfers are most at risk.

Children wading in such waters are at risk because they are likely to put their hands in their mouths or to fall in. Those who get sick may never know the source; epidemiologists say waterborne disease can be hard to track.

'That's what rivers are for'

When Sara Christopherson was growing up in the 1980s on a farm near Cologne, in Carver County, the family's sewer line connected to a drainage pipe that went to a ditch.

Since then, she said, "I can't tell you how many property owners I have talked to who do not think it is a problem."

Her family's system eventually got fixed, and Christopherson went to work for the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center. She now teaches extension courses for septic industry officials.

Across the state, she and other officials said, many homeowners connected septic tanks decades ago to cropland drainage systems known as drain tiles.

"I've heard it referred to as the farm system," Christopherson said. The pipes send untreated waste into ditches and streams.

People still think "that's what rivers are for -- to get rid of stuff," said Bea Hoffmann, executive director of the Southeast Minnesota Water Resources Board, which does research, training and outreach. She said that thinking needs to change: "Why in 2006 do we have raw sewage going into streams? It sounds like something you would expect in the developing world."

In Hope, Minn., a town of 120 people south of Owatonna, sewers from most of the 52 homes connect to a pipe running into the Straight River. The pipe was laid in the 1930s for storm water, but people connected septic tanks to it.

"A lot of the stuff was done after the sun goes down," said Mark Spurgeon, a resident and township board member who is trying to get grants for a treatment system.

At least 21 small Minnesota communities are seeking state aid for sewage treatment systems that cost more than $15,000 per home. They are a fraction of the areas lacking sewage treatment. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) estimates that 12 percent of the 535,000 homes with on-site septic systems are public health threats because untreated effluent ends up on the surface or in waterways. Individual systems cost $8,000 to $15,000.

Inconsistent enforcement

Minnesota's system of regulating septic systems and straight-pipes almost guarantees that enforcement will be uneven across the state.

State law requires counties to adopt regulations for sewage treatment -- and all but one county has done so. Yet the rules vary. Only about half the counties require septic tanks to be inspected if a home is sold.

At least one county requires a written complaint to investigate a neighbor's failed septic system. Many cities and townships handle the regulation themselves. Some places have strict rules for lakeshore lots, but not for other properties.

The MPCA, which enforces most pollution laws, has model regulations for septic systems, but state law allows a local government to make changes.

"It can either be more restrictive or less restrictive," said Lisa Thorvig, assistant commissioner for water policy.

In Pine County, north of the Twin Cities, commissioners enacted sewer regulations in 2003 only after the state threatened to take away grant money. Koochiching County still hasn't passed an ordinance, but the county's environmental services director says it follows the state's model rules.

Thorvig said the state agency has neither the staff nor the authority to regulate septic systems in 87 counties.

"It needs to happen at the local level," she said. In 2003, her agency said it would begin auditing county enforcement programs. Officials say that hasn't been done.

Inside the MPCA, officials who deal with septic regulation have complained of inconsistent enforcement, poor oversight of local programs and too much sewage entering surface and groundwater. The complaints surfaced in March at discussions about improving service.

When the state agency asked local officials, engineers and others to comment on its efforts, responses were equally critical. "Agency is leaderless in this area; being run by middle managers," according to notes from one session. Other comments by outsiders included "enforcement is quagmire" and "token enforcement" of septic tank violations, the notes reveal.

Sen. Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, who designs wastewater treatment systems for a living, said the state spends too much money documenting pollution and not enough eliminating it.

"Why put money toward studies rather than toward the fix to the known problems?" he said.

Thorvig, the assistant commissioner, said documenting sources of pollution -- a major focus of the recently passed Clean Water Legacy Act -- helps "surgically address" problems. Communities will get another $1 million for wastewater projects and counties $730,000 for better enforcement, she said.

In May, the Legislature passed Jungbauer's bill that imposes $500-per-month penalties for illegal straight-pipes. He said it's aimed at individuals who won't install an on-lot septic system, not small towns.

In rural areas, enforcing environmental laws can mean taking legal action against neighbors who also are voters. In Mower County, when a small town rejected plans for a wastewater treatment system in the early 1980s, officials didn't go to court to force the issue.

"We did back off," said county environmental services officer William Buckley. He said commissioners ordered him not to take action. "There was no follow-through."

That town was Nicolville.

'I couldn't afford to stay here'

It is more of a subdivision than a town.

Many of the 16 houses are more than 50 years old. Almost all have lots too small for individual septic systems.

The sewage has gone into the creek since the 1950s. Residents have considered treatment systems since the early 1970s, but none got built even when grants were available.

Federal sewer grants now can be hard to get. Most aid consists of low-interest loans. Poor, rural communities stand better chances of getting grants. So do the towns in northeast Minnesota. That's because Rep. Jim Oberstar, the Democrat who represents the area, won congressional approval for a program to aid wastewater and water supply projects in his district. More than $10 million has flowed in since 2001.

That does little good for Susan Hodge, whose former home in Nicolville is now adorned with a for-sale sign.

Three years ago, she lost her job at a circuit-board plant in Rochester. She began training for nursing. Her house suddenly became a financial drain.

To sell it, she needed to put $26,000 in escrow to pay for future sewage improvements, she said. That made it impossible to break even, she added.

Her bank ended up with the house. It is one of two Nicolville homes recently reclaimed by lenders through foreclosure.

"I was raised by my parents to pay for what you have, but I had no choice," said Hodge, who now lives and works in Austin.

Larry and Jean Braaten, who live across the street, still hope to stay.

He is a former contractor, and together they run a construction consulting business. They like the town, which is surrounded by grazing sheep and pheasants scrambling through the brush. They are officers in the sewer association and with help from a regional assistance program are trying to purchase land and arrange financing for a septic upgrade. Still, they wonder if neighbors can afford it -- and whether another generation will call Nicolville home.

"We don't want to be renegades," said Larry Braaten. "We have got to get it done, for the kids. We want the best for them. We want to leave them something. We don't want to leave them a sewer."

David Shaffer • 612-673-7090