Management, Economics and Policy
Onsite Sewage Treatment in California and the Progression Toward Statewide Standards
Publication Date: June 2004
Cooperating Institution: California State University at Chico
Principal Investigator: Tibor Banathy
Project Budget: $152,035
Project Identifier: WU-HT-00-28
DESCRIPTION
This project will develop a model ordinance for onsite wastewater treatment and management that can be used by jurisdictions throughout California. The project will enlist the resources of a team of technical experts to design and develop the ordinance. This team will consist of experienced persons from the private sector, regulatory sector and academia. The model ordinance will be policy oriented and will use science-based principles to establish criteria for locating, designing, installing, inspecting, operating, maintaining, and monitoring onsite systems. The criteria developed will enable system evaluation and approval based on treatment goals and performance standards. An interactive outreach process will be employed to circulate the ordinance for comment and review in order to facilitate refinements and incorporation of modifications at each phase of ordinance development. The intent is to develop the ordinance in such a way that the criteria can ultimately be incorporated into the nine Regional Water Quality Control Board Basin Plans to promote consistency throughout the state.