People from the suburbs are enchanted by the idea of moving into the "country." However, as these city folk venture into the country to purchase homes on huge lots, they often have very little understanding of what they are getting themselves into. This is especially true of the water situation. The rather unpleasant truth is most folk who move out to the country from suburbia give very little thought to where their water comes from or, more importantly, where it goes.

Living out in the sticks - especially where municipal water is not offered - is different. Many homes are served by well water. This means that there is a big deep hole on their property that filters and pumps water into the house to provide all the water needed for cooking, bathing and drinking. It also means that a huge, underground container accepts and holds all of the household and human waste that is washed down the drain or is flushed.

The "septic system" as it is known, is a rather complicated process. When a toilet is flushed in the "country," the contents are whooshed into a septic tank where they are given an opportunity to settle and ferment. As these solids break down, they are transported into a septic field through a perforated drainpipe. The holes in the pipes allow the contents to be slowly leaked into the surrounding soil where they are absorbed.

When a septic system is working perfectly, this situation works out fine. But, when the system fails, there is huge potential for these leachates to filter through the ground and into the water table. There are many in the field of environmental health that will tell you that the rise in the development of homes in areas not served by municipal water and sewage is directly related to the number of days that our beaches are closed because of a high e-coli count.

The Macomb County Board of Commissioners, acting on recommendations presented by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Lake Saint Clair and the Clinton River Watershed Council, created an ordinance that made it mandatory for these types of systems to be checked when property ownership is transferred. By regulation, when a property served by an on-site sewage disposal or water supply is sold - it must be inspected by the Health Department or a certified private evaluator.

The program is brilliant for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it helps to identify systems that are not working properly and get them fixed. Since the inception of the program, more than 3,000 evaluations have been completed. Of these, approximately 15 percent - about 510 - were not functioning properly. Secondly, the program has helped these new property owners to become better educated on the use and maintenance of these types of systems. Ultimately, the program has huge potential to significantly continue to increase our water quality here in Macomb County. In fact, although a correlation cannot be definitively made, the number of times the beaches here in Macomb County have been closed due to high e-coli counts has slowly been decreasing.

For more information, click Macomb County Health Department - Onsite Sewage