Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I am writing this letter in response to the letter to the editor that James Geis wrote in the October 26th edition of the Sundance Times.

I guess I am a little confused. The rules from DEQ for land application for septic systems waste were adopted by Crook County in 2018, so for almost six years, how has the waste that has been pumped been disposed of if it was not legally land applied on the landowner’s property, and if it was not hauled to a legal disposal site?

If the rules for land application for septic system waste have been changed and adopted by the county and your private business is to pump septic tanks, wouldn’t you have been looking for ways to legally dispose of this waste? Wouldn’t you have been getting things into place to be able to legally dispose of this waste, not waiting until it becomes a problem for your private business and then wanting the county and the county taxpayers to fix your private business problem?

This is not a Crook County Commissioners problem nor is it a Crook County taxpayer problem. The people who live out in the county live there because they choose to, not because they have to.

They know that having a septic system will be an expense that they will incur, so they plan for it, just as the residents who live in the city know that their sewer rate is an expense that they will incur and plan for it.

With the City of Sundance sewer rates, with an average use of 4000 gallons of water a month your city sewer bill will be $279.00 a year. To maintain your septic system, you should have it pumped every 2 to 3 years at an estimated cost of $542.00, which may be a little more depending on how far out in the county you live with travel costs to have it pumped and disposed of legally, if it is not legal for the landowner to have it land applied on their property.

The way that I see this is: if you live in the county and you need to have your septic system pumped and if you cannot have it legally land applied on your land then the septic pumping business needs to charge you accordingly because it is your expense, not the other taxpayers of the county. It is not a county taxpayer problem nor is it a County Commissioner problem to have to worry about nor spend time on trying to solve.

Buck Bock