Editorial Column: Sewer District’s Findings Challenged

By Roger Adams

[In an article reporting on the Bonnie Brae-Sewer District meeting last week in BullWings: Orcas Issues ( orcasissues.com/bonnie-brae-works-with-sewer-district-for-solutions ] Greg Ayers comments that, “When you’re turning on your tap, you’re collecting water from your septic system.” He goes on to say that other substances are present, such as caffeine. Well water testing by Eastsound Water Users, Inc. has not been able to show that elevated nitrate levels in well water samples come from local septic systems.

I would agree with Mr. Ayers’ above statement if caffeine were to be found in well water samples: if well water samples contained caffeine, it would indicate that nitrates in local wells came from septic systems. That levels of caffeine, a persistent chemical compound was, according to Paul Kamin, below the levels that can be measured by EWU test instruments in all tests, is at odds with Mr. Ayers statement.

According to the article,”He (Ayers) explained the science behind the sewer district commissioners’ decision to speed up the connection process. He quoted a study that looked at well and septic densities, and determined that the Blanchard Road area and Bonnie Brae have the highest density of wells and septic fields.” Ayers is referring to the May 2010 Chazen study commissioned by Eastsound Sewer & Water District. The septic density recommendations in the study are based on the findings of another study done in rural Pennsylvania, a very different place than Orcas Island.

The first recommendation in the Chazen study gives very pointed advice regarding septic density. It says that septic system density “upgradient” of wells in the Blanchard Road area should be limited in order to protect these wells. “Upgradient” means west of Blanchard Road which is outside the UGA.

The study concludes that conditions in the Eastsound basin make the likelihood of septic effluent entering the Eastsound aquifer from septic sites in the Eastsound basin (and UGA) getting into our drinking is nil.

The Chazen study says that the aquifer is under a layer of impermeable hard pan and clay that was compressed by glaciers in the last ice age (think of the pressure laminate on your counter tops — when was the last time you had water in your kitchen drawers because your counter top leaked?).

The study’s first recommendation for action that should be taken be Eastsound Sewer & Water District is to protect the aquifer recharge areas (identified as “critical habitat” by the state) which lie in sandy areas on hills to the west of Eastsound and fractured shale on the hills to the east of Eastsound. How forcing moderate-  and low-income earners in Bonnie Brea to spend money they don’t have, to hook up to the sewer will reduce nitrates in the Blanchard Road area wells is still an unanswered question.

Roger Adams in an OPAL Commons resident and a candidate for Eastsround Sewer and Water District