Whatcom County school missing septic drainage field
Aug 27, 2012, 9:14 AM | Updated: 10:33 am
Without a drainage field, the septic tank at Nooksack Valley High School had been pouring effluent waste into storm drains possibly for more than 50 years. (MyNorthwest.com file)
(MyNorthwest.com file)
Something stinks in Whatcom County.
It was reported to the county Health Department on Aug. 3 that the Nooksack Valley High School’s septic system is missing a drainage field.
“We’ve got a septic tank underneath the front steps of the high school that goes out to a storm sewer and then from the storm sewer goes on out to a roadside ditch,” says Environmental Health Manager John Wolpers.
There is some treatment in the septic tank. The waste that is being released into the drains is liquids-only or effluent waste. Normally, that effluent would be dispersed in a drainage field.
“As gravity pulls the effluent down, it gets treated through the soils,” Wolpers explains.
Without that dispersement, there is a concern that fecal contaminants could be getting into both service and ground water.
The high school has capped the septic tank. It has contracted with a pumping company to remove the effluent and with an engineer to come up with a permanent solution.
The system was installed back in 1956, and Wolpers says it’s possible the untreated waste water has been streaming into the storm drain for more than 50 years.
