Forty-nine states have laws demanding the regular inspection of septic tank systems. Michigan is the lone exception.

Instead, the state leaves it up to counties, townships, cities, and villages to decide for themselves whether septic systems should be routinely inspected to minimize the public health risks a system failure can pose. But while some northern Michigan localities have adopted septic regulations – including Benzie County and Leelanau’s own Centerville Township among others, plus the Village of Empire – many others haven’t. In the wake of a county board decision this summer, Leelanau County will soon add its name to the list of Michigan municipalities with formal septic inspection rules. But what will those requirements look like, when will they go into effect?

The ordinance at a glance On August 16, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 to create, enact, and enforce a countywide septic system inspection ordinance, which was, for some, a decision more than three decades in the making. Thenew regulation will be a “time of transfer septic inspection ordinance,” which means that any time a home in the county is sold or otherwise transferred to a new owner (such as in an inheritance situation), that event will trigger a septic system inspection by the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department. The new ordinance has the potential to impact most residential properties in Leelanau County – at least eventually. Eric Johnston, who serves as director of environmental health for the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department, says that, while Leelanau County has “some communities with municipal septic systems” – including Leland, Suttons Bay, many parts of Elmwood Township, and Northport – the vast majority of households in the county have private septic systems that will need to be inspected if/when those properties transfer to new owners. “From what I’ve been told from the Leelanau County Equalization Department, there are approximately 15,000 residences in Leelanau with private septic systems,” Johnston notes.

The background In 1990, neighboring Benzie County implemented an ordinance that requires septic system inspections whenever a home is bought, sold, or transferred. On numerous occasions in the years since, Leelanau commissioners have considered aligning county policies with the existing septic inspection in Benzie County, due in part to the fact that the two counties share a health department. Repeatedly, though, those motions have failed to generate enough support.

“When I first got on the commission in 2014, I thought [a septic inspection ordinance] would be a slam dunk,” says District 4 Commissioner Ty Wessell, who voted in favor of the new regulations. “I quickly learned that it had been discussed several times before and that it always ended up an issue about size of government, small government, property rights, and the assumption that because the waters look clean in Lake Michigan that everything's fine.”

This year, the script flipped. Only District 2 Commissioner Debra Rushton and District 7 Commissioner Melinda Lautner voted against the new ordinance – both cited concerns about “big government.” At the August 16 meeting, Lautner described the prospective septic ordinance as “a motion to approve more taxation, more regulation, and create bigger government.”

Why the ordinance? For his part, Wessell a four-term commissioner and now the commissions’ chairperson, sees the ordinance as an overdue way to get Leelanau County’s (many) septic systems up to code. Especially given Leelanau’s proximity to Lake Michigan, Grand Traverse Bay, and other freshwater bodies, Wessell says it’s crucial that the county curb issues with contamination that studies show are already taking place all throughout the state.

“About two years ago, we had a septic committee where, for a whole [commission] meeting, we brought in 10 experts,” Wessell explains. “We brought in a professor from Michigan State; we brought in some watershed people; we brought in people from the Inland Seas Education Association and the health department. Without exception, they advocated for [a septic inspection ordinance]. Dr. Joan Rose from MSU [an expert in microbiological water quality and public health safety] showed us a 2011 study where every single river she checked had traces of human fecal matter in it. And at the end of the day, it was still a party line vote.  [Republican commissioners said] ‘We don't want it, we don't need it.’ It was hard for me to understand.”

“We know we have risks in Leelanau County,” Wessell continues. “We know we have homes along the lakeshore that are using homemade systems. We know there are homes without right-sized systems. And we expect that one out of every five systems or so probably will need some work when they get inspected.”

Next steps Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department’s Johnston is taking the lead on drafting the septic inspection ordinance for Leelanau County. “Currently, there's a regulation for Benzie and Leelanau separately, and it's our intent is to make it one unified code for both counties,” he says.

Because the regulations for both Leelanau and Benzie are technically being revised, Johnston says the health department will hold formal public hearings in both counties as part of the process for enacting the new ordinance. Johnston says the health department won’t officially vote on “whether to approve or adopt the amended regulations” until after the public hearing process. Finally, the ordinance will go to the board of commissioners in each county for final approval.

While Johnston isn’t certain of a timeframe for getting the public hearings scheduled, he says his goal is to get the ordinance “implemented in a timely manner and not drag it out any more than it has been.”

The impact Per Johnston, the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Deaprtment currently averages about 300 inspections per year in Benzie County, with a failure rate around 4 percent. He anticipates a similar annual inspection count for Leelanau, and says the department will need to hire “one new staff member, at least” to accommodate the additional demand. As for failure rate, Leelanau’s will likely be much higher than Benzie’s to start, given that many of the properties in the county haven’t been checked in decades.

“In Leelanau County, we’ve been doing some townships that have a septic evaluation program, and we’re seeing right around a 20 percent failure rate with those systems,” Johnston says. “We’ve done about 355 inspections [in Leelanau] since 2014, and we’ve probably seen 70 of them that aren’t acceptable.” Glen Arbor Township adopted its own septic ordinance in 2014, followed by Cleveland Township in 2018, Centerville Township in 2020 and the Village of Empire in 2021.

What determines whether a system is “acceptable”? Johnston says the septic inspection process is designed to look at things like system location, size, volume, water flow, and overall function. Signs of a system that is failing (“ponding water [in the drainage field], black staining of stone or soil around the system, that sort of thing”) or that it might soon fail (water flow problems, or a septic tank that is undersized given the needs of the home) are a few of the red flags that might result in an inspection failure. A failed inspection would then require the homeowner to pursue “corrective action” to bring their septic system up to code.

Editor's note: the story was updated on Oct. 7 to inlcude Elmwood Township as one of the Leelanau communities with a municipal sewer.

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