I have two concerns that I hope can be addressed. 

1. As a homeowner I want to know, when I purchase a home the septic / treatment works has been inspected by a licensed, experienced, and trained individual. It is not of matter who does the inspection, just that the inspection is carried out. I will submit that anyone that is not licensed by Depor as a service provider,  an employee of the VDH or a licensed engineer  is not and should not be doing these types of inspections. It would seem to me that anyone who markets themselves as a home inspector and does not have a Depor license as a service provider to inspect septic systems is breaking the law. I think it is only a matter of time before, an informed homeowner who understands the regulations will successfully sue a home inspector, who does not have a Depor license for a treatment works problem that is unforeseen. As a homebuyer I  might realize I can hire my own inspector, but I also realize that most homeowners would believe that a generic home inspector is good enough. I think at a minimum the home buyer needs to understand what he or she is purchasing and that information should be part of a property transaction. 

2. As a manufactures representative of alternative treatment systems we get calls from homeowners who want to understand what they just purchased. Of course we lead the homeowner to a service provider and it is only then they understand the cost of owning a home with an alternative treatment works. In some cases this leads to extensive repairs. 

In the interest of protecting uninformed homebuyers, I believe there needs to be an inspection of treatment works at the time of property transfer. The inspection should be done by a licensed Depor service provider, a VDH employee, or an engineer. It could be a combination of anyone of the two. I have done some research and there are two states, that I can find already doing this Rhode Island and Iowa and there may be more. I believe that a fee should be incorporated into the new fee structure for the VDH to do these inspections. The inspection could be done with a licensed service provider or engineer. I would submit a total fee of $200-$400 at time of property transfer would be reasonable and would protect the home buyer. This is a small cost to pay and could be rolled into closing cost of the property transfer. Another reasonable advantage would be that this fee would help already financially  strapped Health Departments fund their programs. 

While I am an industry stakeholder I do not write this as a stakeholder, As a stakeholder there is no advantage for manufactures. I write this as an informed citizen interested in protecting homebuyers, thus I choose to remain anonymous.