In the Great Lakes region, increasing numbers of homeowners are using alternative onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) to compensate for conditions that preclude the use of conventional gravity-fed septic systems. Many OWTS regulatory programs, already burdened with aging conventional systems, are now faced with the additional challenge of ensuring that alternative systems are properly designed, installed, and maintained. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), concerned about overall OWTS failure rates, recently issued a set of recommended guidelines for the management of OWTS regulatory programs. To determine the challenges associated with implementing the EPA’s recommendations, the authors conducted a survey of OWTS program administrators with jurisdictions bordering a Great Lake. This paper presents and evaluates the survey results, which suggest a general trend in the region toward accommodating the permitting of alternative systems by making OWTS codes less prescriptive and more performance-based. In addition to this change, the results also suggest that, in many locales, a parallel focus should be on strengthening program elements related to: (a) post-permit inspections, especially when home ownership changes; (b) maintenance contract requirements; and (c) the use of “responsible management entities” to maintain and manage clusters of OWTS.

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