Chautauqua County has had several months to address a program to identify failing septic systems.

It failed to muster enough support for a Chautauqua County Legislature vote last year amid questions about the requirement affecting all lakes in Chautauqua County, the cost to individual septic owners, who will do the inspections, the type of training and cost of training, among others. In nearly five months, however, the issue has not received much public discussion until last week’s Chautauqua County Board of Health meeting. That board approved regulations in which private sewage disposal systems within 250 feet of the lakeshores of Bear, Cassadaga, Chautauqua and Erie lakes must be inspected starting in January. According to the amendment, unpermitted private sewage disposal systems greater than 30 years old will be first priority for inspection, with secondary consideration given to permitted private sewage disposal systems greater than 30 years old.

Septic systems aren’t the only sources of pollution that can harm lakes and their surrounding watersheds in Chautauqua County. Manure from farms and wildlife, phosphorus used on lawns and runoff from hard surfaces such as driveways can contribute. Recent county studies, however, pointed a finger at inadequate septic systems that are closest and lowest to the lake because there is less area for an adequate leach field. Septic systems also do not take significant amounts of phosphate out of the waste stream.

Septic systems are a fact of life in rural areas like Chautauqua County, and surely there is a public health reason to make sure those septic systems are functioning properly. We would still like to see all of the questions about this program answered. We would certainly like to be sure rural and low-income county residents aren’t unfairly penalized. But, it is unthinkable that 40 percent of the septic systems in the area surrounding lakes in Chautauqua County are unpermitted and could be exempt from inspection unless a property is sold.

County lawmakers must settle this inspection question in time to begin in 2016.