Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation

Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators and Onsite Sewage System Professionals

Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators and Onsite Sewage System Professionals Regulations [18 VAC 160 ‑ 20]

Action	Amend regulations to license onsite sewage system professionals.
Stage	Proposed
Comment Period	Ended on 3/6/2009

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3/5/09 2:09 pm

Commenter: Steve DiPietro

Bond and Warranty Required. Who is looking out for the consumer? Fix the Ecosystem Now.

A bond and warranty must be required by all vendors participating in the design and installation of onsite sewage systems. Currently when systems fail, the vendors in the ecosystem have already been paid, and short of expensive legal action by the home owner, no one holds them accountable for failing systems. Vendors are allowed to tune out or just walk away with no obligation to correct mistakes. Currently the home owner shoulders the entire financial and legal burden for dealing with the VDH and the failing system. This is a huge gap that has been missed prior to allowing onsite sewage systems to be used in Virginia.

These proposed regulations that are to go into effect on July 1, 2009 appear to exacerbate the already existing problem of a very splintered ecosystem that supports onsite sewage systems in Virginia. You cannot effectively create accountability spreading it across 4-6 or more different licensed professionals that can only perform certain parts of the design, installation, and repair process. This will most certainly continue to put the financial and legal burden on the home owner/consumer, and of course the tax payers that finance the indemnification fund. Virginia needs to make it so that the same guy that says “you can build and onsite sewage system here” can design it, install it, and come back and fix it if it fails. Ideally this would be one company that employs the required licensed professionals and is held accountable when systems fail, and get rewarded with more business and renewed licenses when their systems work. This is the best outcome for the tax payers of Virginia, consumers of these systems, the entire ecosystem that supports these systems, and last but not least the fastest way to get sewage off the ground when these systems fail.

CommentID: 6890