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(Continued from Page 1) WSA chairman Woodard and Mr. Baumgardner. “For any landowner, we must establish proof that th« property doesn’t fall within the sin gle exception to the mandator} hook-up, so the Health Department is a party to any proceeding w« might bring,” said Mr. Baum gardner, noting that the WSA has repeatedly asked the department foi a written assessment on Mr. Atkins disposal system but that none has been received to date.
“We have not been able to determine an obvious and imminent health hazard that would enable us to take legal action against the property owner,” said regional supervisor Charles Shepherd. He maintained that the WSA can act without any involvement from the Health Department since the Authority’s charter incorporates the mandatory hook-up provision. “They have not felt they needed to implement (the provision) at this time,” he contended.
According to Mr. Shepherd, who said he met with Mr. Woodard, Mr. Baumgardner and Mr. Lockhart, the Authority has received reports of an illegal discharge of waste water but will not identify the individual making the allegation. On visiting the property in question, the Health Department’s sanitarian could find no evidence of that discharge, Mr. Shepherd said.
“If we saw sewage on the ground,” or if an individual who has seen such a discharge is willing to testify to the fact in court, then the Health Department could instigate legal action, he said. “But we have to have something positive like that... We can’t even start on a case unless we’re 90 percent sure.”
He said that the matter had been referred to the State Water Control Board in Richmond where it has been assigned a PREP (pollution response) number for further investigation.
According to Mr. Shepherd, the law governing the two state agencies differs significantly. Before taking any action in a case such as that in Sperry ville, “we have to establish a health hazard exists,” he explained. “But the State Water Control Board’s charter gives them a unique approach. If they find something suspicious, the burden of proof falls on the property owner to show that there is no problem.”
According to Mr. Shepherd, the Health Department has those broad powers only when a permit is involved for a restaurant, service station, school, day care center or other operation serving the public. Then if there’s a “vague suspicion of an illegal discharge,” the permit holder must take “extraordinary measures” to prove to the Health Department that the sewage disposal system is functioning properly. With a new dwelling in the Sperryville service district, the WSA’s charter and the Health Department’s regulations require “written certification” of compliance with applicable Health Department standards in order for it to be exempted
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