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Bellingham board weighs ban on fragile ‘infiltrator’ septic chambers after repeated failures
Summary
The Bellingham Board of Health debated whether to ban a type of alternative septic ‘infiltrator’ chamber after members and the health agent reported multiple premature failures, including a 2019 installation. The board paused action and asked for more data and vendor input before a public hearing.
The Bellingham Board of Health spent much of its June 16 meeting debating whether to ban “infiltrator” septic chambers after members described repeated failures and the town health agent said he had been documenting problems.
Health Agent Dylan Lante told the board he has been “building a case, taking pictures” after several recent repair jobs failed prematurely and that the failures often followed the same pattern — chambers knifing into sand or forming a clogging biomat that blocks infiltration. He said one notable failure occurred at an Irene Court installation completed in 2019.
Board members pressed for technical details. A member reporting local field observations said at least three of five recent projects with infiltrator chambers failed in similar ways; questions focused on whether the systems were being installed on sites that could not accept traditional pipe-and-stone systems and whether installer warranties were sufficient. The health agent said installers typically offer only one- or two-year warranties, leaving homeowners exposed when systems fail years later.
Opponents of a local ban warned of the downsides of diverging from state practice. Vice Chair Rick Gilbert said he was reluctant to make Bellingham “different than everybody else in the state” and suggested the board should poll other local health agents. Board members also flagged a pending bill at the statehouse that could limit local authority to regulate these systems.
Rather than vote on a ban, the board directed staff to gather more information before any rulemaking: compile installation and failure statistics (including how many infiltrator systems were installed locally in the past five years), obtain warranty information from installers, and invite a manufacturer or technical representative to a future meeting or Zoom session. The board agreed not to hold a public hearing at the next meeting and instead to consider data gathered in coming weeks.
The board did not adopt or amend any regulation at the June 16 meeting. A decision path presented by members included (1) more data collection, (2) a possible vendor presentation, (3) consideration of a future public hearing, and (4) monitoring of state-level developments that could affect local authority.
