First, I don’t know if this study accounts for the possibility of failed tanks and/or people who have chosen to hard pipe directly to the creek, rather than fix a clogged system. Other possibilities include overloaded systems because all the adult kids and the grandkids have moved back home and into the basement in Barry’s economy. So the study itself could just be a bunch of poo-poo.
Second, I see this as part of a large push against rural living. If septic tanks are declared ineffective, it will become virtually impossible to build a new house outside of where sanitary sewer pipes run (ie the city).
By happenstance, one of my additional duties at my job is reviewing the occasional septic system plan. Septic tanks do not work by magic or voo-doo. There are some basic principals at work. There is no reason it shouldn’t work just as well as the city’s treatment plant.
Permit? To shit through a wooden seat with a hole in it into an concrete pit? Permit? Yeah, right!
You got a better chance of seeing God, buddy, let alone stepping foot on my property ever again.
System overload can be an issue. I pump mine once a year to be on the safe side.