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County sees 75 systems installed in 2024; now 505 overall since 2020

 

More than 500 septic systems have been installed in five years under Mower County’s initiative to better protect groundwater and local waterways.

Following the 2024 construction season, Mower County property owners have installed 505 subsurface sewage treatment systems (SSTS) since 2020. Last year, the county saw 75 installed septics; out of those systems, 10 were identified as non-compliant via property transfers and one from a land-use permit in a shoreland overlay area.

Last year, 45 of these systems were installed in the Cedar River Watershed (western Mower), with the other 30 being in the Root and Upper Iowa watersheds of the county’s eastern side.

Non-compliant septic systems threaten human health and the environment because they do not properly treat wastewater before it enters groundwater, lakes and streams.

Mower County’s overall number for 2024 was down from the 93 septics installed in 2023 but last year’s construction was delayed until around July 1 due to heavy rainfall in spring, said Angela Lipelt, environmental services supervisor for Mower County. Septic installations are dependent on weather conditions.

Non-compliant septic systems identified by county staff also dropped significantly from 46 in 2023 to 11 in 2024. That reduction can relate to several factors, Lipelt said, including there aren’t as many non-compliant systems due to the county’s change in its SSTS initiative.

“Last year’s SSTS numbers were down but that should be expected with the wet spring and, more importantly, that the preceding years were all-time highs for septic installations in Mower County,” Lipelt said.

Also, Mower County last year created a new priority ranking system to seek compliance inspection by the septic system’s age and proximity to sensitive features, Lipelt said. Inspections weren’t as high with property transfers slowing due to higher interest rates and a low number of projects in shoreland-overlay areas, she said.

Prior to its SSTS initiative and new ordinance, the county typically found about 17 non-compliant septic systems each year.

In 2024, four low-income households in Mower qualified for cost-share assistance of $7,500 to $10,000 from state watershed-based implementation funds (WBIF) for the Cedar-Wapsipinicon and Root River management areas. 

In 2020, the Mower County Board launched an SSTS initiative to accelerate progress on the county’s long-running efforts to achieve septic compliance countywide, which led to 128 septic systems installed in 2020. That was the highest since 125 were installed a decade earlier.

To date, Mower County has about 4,000 properties with a septic system, including nearly 3,500 residential properties. The county estimates 85 percent of those systems are in compliance; 12 percent are considered to be failing to protect groundwater; and 3 percent are designated as an “imminent threat to public health and safety.”

Under its SSTS program, Mower County offers assistance to property owners that includes:

• Septic loans of up to 90 percent of the replacement system’s cost to be paid over 10 years as a tax assessment.
• Low-income grants – a qualifying example is a family of four with an annual income under $66,650.

Septic owners are urged to make sure they are properly maintaining their system. A properly maintained septic system that is properly cared for in addition to being pumped and inspected every three to five years will last 30 years or more.

University of Minnesota’s On-Site Sewage Treatment Program offers extensive tips for best maintenance of septic systems, ranging from annual maintenance to daily care, on its website: septic.umn.edu

Mower County Environmental Services, 1105 Eighth Ave. N.E. in Austin, can assist with low-interest loans for septic replacements and other septic questions at (507) 437-7718 and online at: www.co.mower.mn.us/486/Septic-Systems