Beaufort County Special Area Management Plan Onsite Sewage Disposal System Management
This report (pdf) was commissioned by OCRM and prepared by National Environmental Services Center (NESC). The report’s purpose is to investigate, research, and recommend appropriate onsite/decentralized wastewater management strategies to Beaufort County, South Carolina.
This Onsite Disposal System (OSDS) Management Report addresses core issues and generates essential insights necessary to enable Beaufort County, South Carolina to make appropriate decisions as it considers the development of a county onsite/decentralized wastewater management system (OMS).
Inspection and maintenance ordinances and/or regulations are identified for Beaufort County and the state of South Carolina. Operational inspection and maintenance requirements established in coastal zone states nationwide are also examined. Programmatic recommendations for Beaufort County are set forth in draft ordinance language establishing protocols for a model onsite/decentralized wastewater management inspection and maintenance program within the county’s overall onsite management system (OMS).
Standards for conventional, innovative, and small flow community OSDS germane to South Carolina are reviewed. A comparative analysis of protocols, policies, procedures, and practices of existing standards countywide, statewide, and a cross coastal-zone states is presented.
A comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis of primary, secondary and tertiary onsite/decentralized systems along with significant operation and maintenance considerations and associated costs for conventional, innovative, and small flow community OSDS applicable statewide is provided.
Existing standards for household appliances countywide, statewide and throughout the coastal zone states is afforded. New standards for relevant household appliances are set forth within recommendations for draft ordinance language.
General recommendations for the establishment of a countywide OSDS management system are articulated throughout the body of the document and further reinforced through the draft ordinance developed.