The Household Sewage Treatment System (HSTS) is a vital part of a total wastewater infrastructure that supports the quality of life in communities. This infrastructure protects human health and the environment and maintains property values. The preservation of public health and the environment requires that every home in the county be provided with a system for treating wastewater produced by its occupants. Many residences are connected to public sanitary sewers. The balance of the residences are served by individual HSTS.
Building this infrastructure needs to be the work of professionally minded people that are committed to quality work. The investment being made by the property owners in these systems requires that installers and vendors of equipment be committed to successful installations and trouble-free, long-term operation with routine service.
A HSTS is only as good as its installation. This is true where very good soil conditions allow the use of totally passive treatment systems. It is also true where advanced treatment systems must compensate for marginal soil and site conditions. Assuring that installations result in competitively priced, trouble-free systems that are maintainable at reasonable costs is one of the greatest challenges that the onsite wastewater treatment industry faces. The industry cannot afford to leave the satisfaction of customers to chance.
It is important to realize that this document will continue to be supplemented and revised on an annual basis or until it is replaced by a standard manual of installation practice for the onsite industry. Any alternative means or methods offered to achieve the objectives of this manual are subject to review by the Health District.