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Septic System Management Program <br />August 24, 1990 <br />Page 13 of 16 <br />Exhibit D indicates the number of septic system permits <br />issued for construction of new residences each year since 1975. <br />A moratorium was in effect for parts of 1974 and 1975 with an <br />increase in new construction activity in the latter half of the <br />1970s. New home starts were relatively low in 1980 through 1983, <br />then increased dramatically in 1984 and remained relatively high <br />through 1989. <br />Exhibit E indicates the relationships between the number of <br />septic system repair permits issued, the number of failed systems <br />encountered, and the number of system inspections made. <br />Predictably, repair permits were at a high level during the first <br />5 years of the septic program (1978“1982), due not only to a <br />significant number of failing systems encountered during the <br />initial inspections, but often due to individual property owners <br />initiative and heightened concern and awareness in the City <br />generally about septic systems. <br />Repair permits dropped «significantly in 1983, partially due <br />to a n,w requirement for 1 testing for repair work. This <br />became policy because pric. to that time, staff encounte ed a <br />number of repairs which did not yield functional systems ..ue to <br />poor design based on lack of soil information. <br />Note also that the number of repairs from 1983 through 1989 <br />was low relative to the first 5 years, even though in 1987-1989 <br />many existing system inspections were made. Since the level of <br />system failures encountered has ranged from 5-10% of the systems <br />inspected in any given year, it is likely that relatively low <br />numbers of repair permits during years of numerous existing <br />system inspections, indicates a lack of repair order compliance <br />rather than a lack of failing systems. In the period 1986 <br />through 1988, while 79 systems were found to be failing, only 61 <br />were repaired. This indicates an overall compliance rate of 77% <br />for those years, meaning one-fourth of the failing systems <br />weren't repaired. This recent lack of compliance appears to be <br />somewhat directly related to the decreasing amount of program <br />administration and follow-up hours, illustrated in Exhibit F.