Homestead Wastewater Systems, Part 1 (the law and the "golden" state of affairs)

We live on 40 wooded acres in a southern Colorado county, and we are mortgage-free, off-grid, and yes, like everyone else in the rural areas, we pee and poo, and otherwise generate wastewater. Thus, we have need of a wastewater system. Now, let's start differentiating (this is very important), because what is different between your scenario/location and ours is:

1. at the state level: applicable Colorado laws (2012 OWTS Act); in a nutshell, the rules are:
- no raw sewage dumped on the ground; cesspools, outhouses, etc. are banned
- sewage must flow from the house into a permitted/approved Onsite Wastewater Treatment System (OWTS, aka "septic system")
- Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) must interpret and implement the state law at the county level

2. at the (rural) county level:
- the county implements the law around wastewater systems (via ordinances and building codes), as passed down by the state; the county-designated AHJ is responsible for the OWTS process (and generates rules and regulations). If a city is the AHJ, there is a public wastewater system, and if you live and build in that city, you have no choice but to hook into it for wastewater treatment from your house. This is important, because if *any area* has a public wastewater system, you'll be required to hook into it. If there is no public system, you'll need a private system.
- our AHJ is the county health department; their checklist (which they are very comfortable with) has a basic septic system design (septic tank, leach field) as the OWTS.
- all costs of being an AHJ for wastewater are recaptured with the OWTS Permit Fee, and rules and regulations flow from this process.  This is integrated into the building codes, as you aren't generally allowed to begin a permitted building without having a completed OWTS permit process.
- from the state act, and from county ordinances, the AHJ also has enforcement and penalty powers. Enforcement might be complaint-driven, or it might be due to rules and regulations around an OWTS, such that you can't design, install, or even operate it yourself.

3. definitions:
- septic tank: invented in 1860 by Jean-Louis Mouras, and not changed much over the years to today's two-chamber design; has an inlet and outlet, receives sewage from the house thru the inlet and treats it anaerobically (no oxygen or aeration), and passes effluent thru the outlet to the leach field.
- leach field: infiltrators (most modern design) in trenches with defined spacing, designed to disperse effluent from septic tank to the surrounding soil area.
- wastewater (aka "sewage"): consists of blackwater (pee and poo), greywater (all other outflow from sinks and showers); this wastewater flows from house wastewater plumbing into the septic tank inlet.
- septic tank process: in a two chamber design, the first big chamber receives all wastewater where it settles into three (usually) distinct layers processed anaerobically by bacteria; top layer is "scum", middle is "effluent", and bottom is "septage" (aka sludge). The second smaller chamber receives effluent only (in a working system), and passes it to the leach field.
- working system: as long as the septic tank is processing (reducing) the scum, effluent, and septage (sludge) layers, everything works as designed; if one layer gets too big (not being reduced), the system will no longer work as designed, and  requires maintenance (inspection, diagnosis, repair). As the septage layer is the usual culprit, and pumping is the usual answer, the inspection process involves a service company who sends out a technician to inspect (the state of the layers), diagnose (septage layer not reducing), and repair (pump out the septage).
- septage: not a final form of treated sewage, and still full of pathogens. If pumped out by a service company, it is supposed to be processed further by regulated companies and processes; the best that we can hope for is that it is processed into "bio-solids", which by EPA definition, is pathogen-free and safe for various applications (if done right).

There's no other magic in this bureaucracy around wastewater, and the basic septic system is the "golden" (simplest) state of affairs that rural AHJ's understand, permit, inspect, approve, and walk away from. If you meet all requirements, you can put in a basic septic system. Being bureaucrats at the AHJ level, there could be more or less activity and requirements built into this county-level effort for OWTS (septic systems), but, this is "the law", and the "golden state" is the best (least expensive) outcome.

In the rural areas of the counties across the nation, you will start to see differentiation at all levels; what you'll experience depends on where you chose to buy property, so choose wisely. Your chosen state has it's own law, your chosen county has ordinances and building codes, and there is a county AHJ with resulting bureaucracy, and the best you can hope for is to reach that golden state with regard to putting in the simplest septic system possible *in the area you've chosen*. All the rules of dealing with bureaucrats come into play, and everyone plays this game differently, so YMMV.

This should be the same thing everyone else experiences, in regards to rules and bureaucracy, so if you think something different is occurring local to your land, state what the rules are in your "area" (state, county, AHJ), and we can better make sense of it with such context. For example:

- you may have chosen wisely, if you chose a state (who has a law), and a county (possibly with rules), and there is little to no AHJ. You may still be able to utilize an outhouse, cesspool, or other arrangement for your wastewater ... in the context of all these things, we'll be able to make sense of it.

- you may have chosen poorly, if you chose a state (with many laws), a county (with many ordinances and building codes), and an AHJ (with numerous rules and regulations). In such an area, you may not be able to design or implement your own OWTS, and they may seriously enforce (and make you pay for) all aspects of managing your system.

- you may have chosen to play the game differently, if you have plenty of woods, on lots of acreage, and you chose to hide in the middle of it and do your own thing. More power to you, with the usual caveat of "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else", short-term or long-term.
 
What did we do, with regard to our OWTS method? We chose (mostly) wisely in our land purchase, and have 40 wooded acres, upon which we put in a DIY "basic septic system", following our county's process. The system is permitted, inspected, approved, and on file.

What happened after that becomes Part 2 in this homestead series of wastewater articles.