How homeowners' associations can successfully manage advanced onsite systems.(Editorial)

Wastewater systems are frequently installed as inexpensively as possible and maintained by the developer only until all lots are sold. Then operation of the wastewater system becomes the responsibility of the homeowners' association or individual lot owners.

The average homeowners' association has no understanding of the technology it is inheriting and probably no knowledge of permit requirements. Many homeowners' associations meet only annually, and there are almost always newly elected members. The result is a lack of continuity in leadership. Board members who are willing to dun their neighbors for unpaid sewer bills or to demand inspections are likely to get voted off the board. Even if the board does insist that members pay their sewer bills, it usually has no affordable legal recourse if someone refuses to pay. Most deed restrictions are fairly vague about enforcement issues, and few homeowners' associations can afford to file liens or begin collection action in local court.

As long as the toilets flush, wastewater is invisible.

Still, there is hope for the future: Some existing models--in Kansas and Massachusetts--could be adapted for the management of either individual onsite systems or clustered systems in subdivisions, as long as local regulators are willing to be proactive.

In Kansas, a rural water district was facing wellhead protection issues involving a new subdivision with individual onsite systems. The district negotiated a solution with the developer involving deed restrictions and voluntary compliance with local health department regulations. The final agreement, which was included both in the deed restrictions of each lot …