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Home My WebLink About2015-7-9Minutes for July 9, 2015, adopted Aug. 20 BOARD OF HEALTH Town of Nantucket 16 Broad Street Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554 �- ..�,.� www.nantucket- ma.gov _ _ Commissioners: Malcolm MacNab, MD, PHD, (chair), James Cooper (Vice chair), Helene Weld, RN, Stephen Visco, Rick Atherton Staff: Artell Crowley, Kathy Lafavre, Anne Barrett -- MINUTES Thursday, July 9, 2015 4 Fairgrounds Road, Community Room — 5:30 pm Called to order at 5:34 p.m. Staff in attendance: Artell Crowley, Interim Director of Health; Terry Norton, Town Minutes Taker Attending Members: Malcolm MacNab, MD, PHD; James Cooper; Helene Weld, RN; Stephen Visco Absent Members: Rick Atherton, Board of Selectmen Agenda adopted by unanimous consent 1. None Sitting MacNab, Cooper, Weld, Visco, Atherton Guest Speaker George Heufelder, Director of Barnstable County Health Department Discussion MacNab — Issues have been raised in regards to I/A septic systems in the harbor district. Crowley — Introduced George Heufelder, Director of Barnstable County Health Department Heufelder — Gave his PowerPoint® presentation. Crowley — There are 214 I/A systems. His office is gathering the information; once they have that they will join the Barnstable system; as a result not monitoring the systems. He estimates six months until ready to enter into the program; can't enter without operation /maintenance (O / -I) contracts on each system. Heufelder — Once all the data is in; Nantucket BOH can check on how the systems are working. Explained why the O/M contracts are required. MacNab — Passed the regulation a while ago. Crowley — First they have to identify of the 214 who has the O/M then send letters to those who don't and get them in compliance, then can join. Have been working on this since January. The intern is going through files to identify the systems; a database is already set up. MacNab — The question came up if it's a seasonal system, problems come up and how that is dealt with or are there alternatives. Heufelder — By virtue of being seasonal they are here only 25% of the time and functionally if the system of a system is used for one season, the next season start up is 2 -3 weeks. Many boards on the cape look at people visiting during other times of the year and the increase in the shoulder seasons, there is a benefit in requiring I /A. MacNab — If the pumps are turned off, they rust then break down when started up. Heufelder — It's supposed to run and warranted to run. There are things that can be done to prevent freeze up. Weld — The life span of one system and most optimum inspection time. Heufelder — Depends on the complexity of the system; inspection should be no less than once a year. The board should set the number of inspections. His board will allow reduction, but not less Page 1 of 3 Minutes for July 9, 2015, adopted Aug. 20 than twice year, if the system shows at least 50% reduction 8 times in a row. Explained how systems are designed in regards to the number of bedrooms in a house and relative capacity. Visco — Around the harbor and zoning changes, asked if it is necessary for large lots to be required to have I/A systems with the 10,000 feet for bedroom. Heufelder — The answer is based upon how much nitrogen needs to be from that portion of the harbor and how quickly. MacNab — Asked if the BOH has the ability on Island to maintain more than 200 systems that need maintenance. Crowley — Yes. Heufelder — In the beginning only about 20% have maintenance agreements and performance was terrible. As they started bringing them on line with the requirements, that makes sure what is being required works in perpetuity. The Health Department will receive a report on which systems are or are not working and which have O/M reports. It is up the BOH to establish the level of compliance. Crowley — A lot of systems have different uses; if he understands Mr. Heufelder correctly that is not as important as the data. Heufelder — The Board, based upon the data, could make the determination which systems meet a medium and are allowable technologies. Paul Santos, Nantucket Surveyors — On the issue of the ON policy, when Septi -Tech submits a system for compliance they have an O/M in place. The Conservation Commission is now requiring submission of the O/M contract before a Certificate of Compliance is issued. Heufelder — During the 2 -3 weeks of "not working" 100% nitro is not going out into the system; it is just not as low as 50 %. If a system is shut off just for the week, it will work. Kaitlyn Shaw, Natural Resources Water Quality Specialist — Asked for suggestions that might help caretakers to get the system working before owners arrive. Heufelder — There is no good data on the seeding part. The nitrofiers are the slowest to start up; the only thing to get it going is to actually use the toilet. Shaw — There are a lot of Septi -tech system on the island; asked if there is a way to provide them a means by which to connect to the system while the Health Department is gather the data. Heufelder — The septic companies can send connect with the Barnstable data base and download their information. Crowley — At this time Nantucket doesn't have enough data; the systems have to get the O/M agreements in place Arthur D. Gasbarro, Blackwell and Associates Inc. — Asked for advice on how the Board can improve compliance. Heufelder — BOH has the authority to issue an order to obtain within a number of the days an O/M agreement with a daily fine for non - compliance and require the owner to appear before the Board. A failure to obey the order of the Board then goes to court. Tobias Glidden — Asked what percentage of Barnstable systems are hooked to municipal water. Heufelder — 50 to 60 percent. Glidden — Asked if water meters were cross referenced. Heufelder — Yes, that is how they established which systems are actually working well with frugal water users and which are posers with high water flush. Glidden — We are trying to reduce the actual nitrogen, not the percentage. Heufelder — His department has recommended that, when a system is put in, as part of maintenance they check the water usage. Actually you are looking at the load reduction. Glidden — On this island, we actually dealing with 100% of the affluent. Heufelder — If you've got to manage tight tanks, there is an incentive for the homeowner to divert some of the waste water to some other location in a clandestine manner. Richard Ray — Black /grey water systems. Page 2 of 3 Minutes for July 9, 2015, adopted Aug. 20 Heufelder — Grey water contains 10 -20% nitrogen. Found that concentration about 10m1 per liter. If black water can be diverted to a tank and pumped out; grey could be disposed on site. Have looked at black water around the harbor and moving forward with a piloting program, but a mass tracking of that water, there is an incentive to self move due to the cost of pumping. MacNab — The Town taking the job of removing tight tank waste is an option, but the Town has to pick up the cost. The BOH would not have to deal with O /M. Asked if any question hasn't been asked. Heufelder — The Board has to decide how deal with the nitrogen loading issue. If you decide I/A are viable option, then he urges the Board to do it right to make sure they are tracked. Otherwise it is a waste of infrastructure. Asked everyone to check his department's website. Website - https:// septic .barnstablecountvhealth.org /category /data- and - statistics Crowley — Asked how many homes are involved in the Falmouth black /grey water pilot. Heufelder — His county developed a zero interest load for betterment. In regards to composting toilets, they have only two handfuls of people involved with about a 90% load reduction. The complaint against them is effect on property value. For black- water - separation tight tanks, they are permitted only when the person already has a totally compliant Title 5 system. The main complaint against tight tanks is that they have to be registered with the deeds. Santos — Asked if there is advantage to pressure dosing systems. Heufelder — He hasn't seen it except in the upper soil systems. None Motion to Adjourn: 6:40 p.m. Submitted by: Terry L. Norton Page 3 of 3