Westport health board weighs suspending its 2028 cesspool deadline, requiring replacement at sale

WESTPORT Westport homeowners with a cesspool may no longer face a single townwide date to replace it. The town's Board of Health is reworking its cesspool rule to suspend the Feb. 1, 2028, deadline and instead require replacement when a property is sold or changes hands, members said at the board's Monday, Nov. 9 meeting.

The board took no vote on the change Monday. The revised rule has not been posted, and members said they plan a public meeting and then a public hearing on it, which they hope to hold in December.

The member who presented the proposal said the 2028 date is not realistic, pointing to higher installation costs, the rising price of essential system parts and the limited resources the board has to review plans, inspect the work and make sure upgrades are finished. Replacement at sale or transfer is not as fast for the environment as the board would like, the member said, but it spreads the work out over time given those financial and resource limits.

What the rule says now

Under Section 9.0 of the Westport Local Septic System Regulation, in effect since Oct. 16, 2023, every cesspool in town must be upgraded to meet the state's Title 5 septic code by the earliest of three dates: the state deadline for a system that fails Title 5, the day sewer or a shared system that removes nitrogen becomes available, or Feb. 1, 2028.

The board first adopted its cesspool rule on Feb. 1, 2021, and at that time gave owners five years, until Feb. 1, 2026, according to the board's frequently asked questions sheet, which is still posted on the town website. The 2023 version of the regulation carries the 2028 date.

The sheet explains why the town wants cesspools gone. Cesspools do not treat wastewater, it says, and they hold sewage in one spot, often deep in the ground and in direct contact with groundwater that flows into drinking water wells, the Westport River and other streams and ponds.

The current rule does not require a cesspool to be replaced when a property is sold, the sheet says. State Title 5 rules already require a certified inspector to check the system before a sale and send the report to the Board of Health, and a system found to have failed must be replaced. The sheet puts the cost of replacing a cesspool with a conventional septic system at $20,000 to $35,000, depending on the lot and the number of bedrooms, with $10,000 to $20,000 more where a nitrogen-reducing system is needed. Those figures predate the 2023 revision, and members said Monday that installation costs have gone up since.

What would change

Under the proposal as members described it Monday, a cesspool found to have failed a Title 5 inspection at any time would still have to be replaced within two years, or sooner if it poses an imminent threat to public health. Every other cesspool would have to be replaced when the property is sold or transferred, rather than by one date for the whole town. The presenting member said that over the next 25 years most properties with cesspools may change hands, so most would be replaced that way.

The proposal would also let an owner ask the board to treat a cesspool as failed, either because the owner plans to sell or wants to replace it voluntarily, the presenting member said, because septic tax credits and loans require a failure finding under Title 5. The member said the board does not want to declare every cesspool in town failed at once, since that would start the two-year replacement clock for all of them at the same time.

Members did not settle every detail, and one asked whether the work would have to be finished before a sale closes or within two years after it, which would leave the health office tracking new owners. The presenting member said the intent is replacement at the time of transfer, and a member noted that an owner could still ask the board for more time through a variance, decided case by case. Members also raised the wording for homes that could connect to a sewer line and which transfers, such as a move into a living trust, would not trigger the rule. They agreed the next draft should use the state's Title 5 wording for exempt transfers, such as those between spouses.

Asked how long a replacement takes from the first soil test to a certified system, including hiring an installer, members estimated about two to three months.

Also Monday

The board approved a plan to replace the cesspools at a commercial property at 908 to 910 Main Road, a restaurant and lounge. Two local variances let the new system's leaching area sit 7 feet from the property line instead of 10, and 3 feet above high groundwater instead of 4. Conditions include pumping the cesspool at least twice a year until the new system is in and a progress check-in on March 1.

What happens next

The proposal will be rewritten with members' changes, members said, and the board set a working meeting for Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 9 a.m., to go over the cesspool rule along with the health director's performance evaluation and an update on a health agent position. After that, members said, the board plans the public meeting and the public hearing, and one member said it would be great to have the change in circulation by the end of January.

The board canceled its Nov. 23 meeting, which falls in Thanksgiving week, and members said the next regular meeting is Dec. 7. The board meets at 4 p.m. in the Town Hall Annex meeting room, according to its town web page, and residents can reach the Board of Health office at 508-636-1015 or health@westport-ma.gov.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.