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i WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT \ W/12/81 t r s public sewer facility in conflict with an approved regional mechanisms are not oriented toward local comprehensive sewer plan or a metropolitan enforcement or implementation, but rather sewer plan." A widespread, unanticipated failure of toward review and comment on local actions on-site systems could necessitate the construction and providing assistance. of a public facility meeting that standard. — Most management and control activity has been On-site systems have been widely used in the and continues to be performed by local govern- Metropolitan Area. A substantial proportion of mental units and individual system owners. recent residential construction has occurred in i the Rural Service Area. It is estimated that over — Existing local management and control programs 60,000 units are in use in the Metropolitan Area are extremely varied in scope, degree of involve- at present, and data indicates that about 12 percent ment and content. Questions exist about the of all new homes built in the Metropolitan Area adequacy of local administrative capabilities, from 1970 through 1979 rely on on-site systems local ordinance provisions and financial resources for waste disposal. The percentage has declined necessary to carry out a management and { since the mid-1970s. control program in a cost-effective fashion. Despite the widespread use of on-site systems in — Management and control of on-site systems are, the Metropolitan Area, relatively few studies have to a degree, oriented toward dealing with crisis investigated the impacts of on-site systems in this or problem situations, with attention given such Region. General information is available on systems primarily when problems occur. technical engineering and design of such systems, suitable soil and hydrological conditions for on-site — Although federal, state and regional involvement systems, how and why systems fail, and the long- is increasing in management and control and short-term effects of system failure on water programs (as evidenced by WPC 40 and Section quality. This information is beginning to be used in 208 of the Clean Water Act amendments), there the Metropolitan Area in a systematic manner. is still uncertainty about what specific responsi- Additional analysis, planning and program bilities the various levels of government should development should relate this general information have. There also is a need to establish adequate to the specific conditions in the Metropolitan enforcement standards for this Region. Area, to the incidence and pattern of on-site system use, and to the adequacy of local on-site — The Metropolitan Land Planning Act, the Metro- system management and control programs. politan Significance regulations, and Section 208 of the Clean Water Act amendments are a help- In the past, local units have typically allowed and ful basis to define an adequate on-site system supervised the installation of on-site systems with management and control program for local little, if any, guidance. Frequently, an informal governmental units. The Land Planning Act also review and approval of installation occurs as establishes mechanisms for local-metropolitan part of the building permit issuance process. Local coordination. supervision, in part, has been based on the model local code for on-site systems first published by — The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency the State Department of Health in 1960. (MPCA) is the lead state agency in dealing with on-site systems. The Minnesota Department of More recent studies and reports confirm the Health also has authority for on-site systems following findings: as they affect drinking water quality. The MPCA has adopted the first statewide regulations for — Nearly every level of government involved has on-site systems. This represents a significant legal ability to implement a more comprehensive step forward in establishing technical and design management and control program than exists standards for such systems and in coordinating now. state agency efforts involving the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the state building — For a variety of reasons (primarily because of code, the Department of Health, etc., in the traditional local role of exercising police the Region. The regulations, however, directly power over on-site systems), existing state and control only larger-scale on-site facilities or 21