Improving arizonas inspection program to meet modern challenges klfp

3.  No provision for enforcement
 Mediocre inspections
 Incomplete and inaccurate reports
 Seller refuses to have their onsite treatment system
inspected
 Institutions ignoring the point of sale inspection

4.  General treatment & dispersal information
 Septic tank inspection and pumping information
 Soil treatment system inspection
 Other components/appurtenances
 Comment section
 Inspection summary
 Inspector’s certification
 Sketches/Plans/Maps

7.  Observation and rational examination of the facts
 Following the report of inspection line by line
 Accurately documenting
 Conclusion drawn

8. Operational Test
 Effluent must move
through tank
 Through components
 To the soil treatment
area for dispersal

16. Static Level Overload

23. • Access STA
•Make sure tank is
connected to STA
•Insert camera all way to
end of STA, looking for
sludge buildup, roots,
broken pipes
•Retract camera, insert
dedicated hose, turn on
and observe flow, again,
all way to end of STA
Soil Treatment
Area Evaluation

24. NAWT is looking at a new standard for evaluating soil
treatment areas proposed by Pennnsylvania Septage
Management Association.
 Add two additional hours to the inspection process,
after properly exposing the tank, pumping, and
inspecting.
 It could involve up to three trips to the property in 3
days.
 Use 225 to 675 gallons of water.
 Require additional excavations and modifications.

25.  Water is available on-site and that it is turned on.
 Water conservation is not an environmental issue.
 Assumes the media is within reach of a 6-inch auger.
 Assumes media will fall out of the soil treatment area
and need replacing.
 Assumes that the person conducting it is an expert in
the field.
 Assumes that persons responsible for such a test can
financially assume the burden of unnecessary expense.

26. Because special attention has been paid to each point of
disclosure on our form, the septic tank is the smoking
gun for structures occupied or vacant.
When a structure has been vacant, and the STA is
dormant, science has proven that the biomat
dissipates and the soil treatment area recovers.
With these two points considered and observation of a
simple flow test, a conclusion can be drawn as to the
condition of the soil treatment area without hydraulic
loading.

27.  Can be overcome by using tools and modern
technology to observe all parts of the system.
 Inspectors must put their professional integrity on the
line and check yes or no to points of inspection.
 With judicious, yet minimal revisions, adoption of
modern inspection tools, and strict enforcement, the
State can generate the standards necessary to identify
systems as functional or not functional.

28. ARIZONA
In Arizona, where
water is our most
precious commodity
and distances our
greatest obstacle,
there is no need for
the hydraulic load
test to evaluate soil
treatment areas.