Two friends and I went to the septic self inspection class last September. After successfully completing the class, two of us were informed that we had “an alternative” system and did not qualify to do our own inspection. He had a “mound” system and I have an enhanced sand filled drainage field with the water being pumped into it. When my friend asked the county representative, “What is an inspector going to inspect the mound for that I could not do myself?,” she could not provide an answer. She finally stated, “We had to cut it off somewhere.”

I do not mind doing what’s right for the environment, I don’t want to be taxed unfairly for something I did not have a voice in. It is indeed an unfair tax when one group of homeowners pays the overwhelming cost of a particular government program. These homeowners (including myself) have more sophisticated septic systems which are less likely to cause environmental damage than the basic gravity system.

Compounding this situation, I only live here part year and there are only two of us in the household. We have a warning system to let us know if something goes wrong with the septic. Let’s make the program uniform. If there is a special “trick” to inspecting the drain field, I am willing to learn it. But, don’t force me to get an inspection every year because “you had to draw the line” at some random point and let others get an inspection once every three years and even inspect the system themselves.

William Every

Oak Harbor