Minnesota counties and other local units of government conducted a total of 12,805 compliance inspections on existing septic systems across the state in 2014, according to information submitted for the 2014 MPCA SSTS Annual Report that is currently being compiled and analyzed. It will be published later this fall. The total number of compliance inspections performed in 2013 was 11,566.
As Table 1 above shows,11,490
inspections in 2014 were reported by counties. Cities reported 992
compliance inspections and townships reported 296 compliance
inspections. A Water Management District reported 27 compliance
inspections.
Approximately 532,000 SSTS were reported in
Minnesota in 2014. About 2 percent of those existing systems were inspected during the year. Inspections are a very important part of
improving SSTS compliance. When old systems are inspected, those that
pose an environmental or human health risk get on the list to be
upgraded in the near future.
Many local governments have included inspection
triggers in their septic ordinances as a way of finding
and fixing problem SSTS. Events that can trigger a compliance inspection include when a property is sold or when a homeowner applies for a building permit to add a bedroom, for example.
Table 2 shows the number of compliance inspections grouped into 11 categories. Ottertail County reported the highest
number of compliance inspections at 1233 inspections. The other four
highest reporting counties, all reporting more than 500 inspections
were: 2) Cass County at 808, 3) Crow Wing County
at 745, 4) St. Louis County at 635, and 5) Morrison County at 593. The four counties with the most reported compliance inspections in 2014 also reported the most compliance inspections in 2013.
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