- Target:
- Richard Klein
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- ceds.org
There are 13 locations in Maryland where sewage is or will disposed of using drip-irrigation. While this technology could provide substantial benefits, it has proven very failure-prone. In fact, the two longest operating drip-irrigation fields have repeatedly failed and allowed partially treated sewage to rise to the land surface, then flow onto adjoining properties and into nearby waterways.
Both of the failing systems are in Calvert County, MD. At least one more is proposed for construction within the county. To prevent these facilities from spreading disease and causing other impacts, a minimum of 500-feet should separate drip-irrigation fields from the nearest home. The same setback should apply to the ponds used to hold sewage until it can be pumped to the fields.
To: Calvert County Commissioners
Under current Calvert County law a sewage holding pond can be built within 100 feet of a residential property and a sewage drip-irrigation field can be placed within 50 feet of a residential property.
The two existing drip-irrigation fields in Calvert County have repeatedly failed which has resulted in partially treated sewage rising to the land surface where it flowed onto adjoining areas, then into nearby waterways.
With sewage holding ponds and drip-irrigation fields disease-causing organisms may be spread by: mosquitos and other insect vectors; in a mist created when high winds blowing over sewage-saturated fields or the pond surface; or by wastewater flowing into nearby yards or waters. Various scientific studies show that the likelihood of disease and other negative effects is substantially reduced if sewage ponds and sewage-saturated soils are kept a minimum of 500 feet from a home and other residential areas.
We, the undersigned, call upon the Calvert Commissioners to amend County law to require a minimum 500-foot Community Protection Zone between the nearest home and any future sewage holding pond or sewage drip-irrigation field.
Sincerely,
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The No Sewage Near Homes petition to Richard Klein was written by Richard Klein and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.