07/09/2008: "Septic System Inspection Classes Fill Up"

County Councilman Bob Myhr (pictured above) recently joined other San Juan County property owners in signing up for a class that upon graduation allow them to have a choice when it comes to meeting the new requirements of septic system inspections.

Making the choice to take the dlass can save them $350-$550 in costs to have their septic tanks inspected by a licensed professional, or take a free one-day, two-and-a-half hour course given by the County Health and Community Services Department, then perform the inspection themselves. Since the program began in March, septic tank owners have filled almost all of the classes on Orcas, Lopez and San Juan Islands to capacity and the participants have given the program rave reviews.

Anonymous evaluation forms filled out by participants almost all rate the classes as “good” to “excellent” and comments include remarks such as, “All of my questions were answered!” and “Yea! This was so interesting - and presented knowledgeably too.”

More then 250 people have been certified to date. The certification authorizes the person to perform inspections and file required county reports on septic systems on property they own.

The inspections are a new state requirement. The County Health department will begin sending notifications of the annual inspection requirement to owners of mound, sand filter and pressure distribution systems in 2009. Beginning in 2011, it will notify the owners of gravity systems that their systems require inspections forms to be filed every three years. The County has a $20 filing fee for inspection reports.

The inspection classes require advanced registration and classes on San Juan Island are already booked up through December, but a schedule for next years classes will be made available later -at which time we will post the information.