Falmouth homeowners shun eco-toilets

Interesting trade-offs!

$18,000 betterment plus hook-up....$5,000 rebate....

WASTEWATER

Falmouth homeowners say no to eco-toilets

Given the choice to forgo sewers, only two homeowners take the plunge

To be in the program, homeowners had to get approval from the Board of Health and have started construction by the deadline. Karplus said a third homeowner went before the board but didn’t start work in time.

By Sean F. Driscoll
sdriscoll@capecodonline.com Posted Nov. 17, 2014 @ 4:07 am




FALMOUTH - Homeowners in the Little Pond area have flushed away their chance to skip a mandatory sewer hookup by installing an eco-toilet system in their homes.

Of the 50 spots available in a betterment exemption program, only two property owners met the requirements by the Oct. 31 deadline, said Sia Karplus, an environmental consultant with Falmouth engineering firm Science Wares.

To be in the program, homeowners had to get approval from the Board of Health and have started construction by the deadline. Karplus said a third homeowner went before the board but didn’t start work in time.

“Clearly 50 (participants) was generous,” Karplus said.

About 1,400 residences and businesses in the Little Pond area will be getting sewer lines as part of a $49.8 million package of wastewater projects approved by voters in May.

The betterment exemption program allowed up to 50 of them to skip the sewer hookups if their owners installed an eco-toilet system in their home. The devices achieve the same goals as the sewer installation: Keep nitrogen from entering nearby estuaries and help stem the growth of algae in the waterways, which in turn blocks sunlight from reaching plants, causes oxygen depletion and can lead to fish kills.

The betterment exemption program was the second offering to those interested in eco-toilet installations. A pilot program, which offered a $5,000 rebate to homeowners who installed eco-toilets and agreed to let Falmouth study their use, has received only about 10 takers for 16 rebates available.

“I think it’s a fair conclusion” that the consumer interest in the devices isn’t present in Falmouth, said Eric Turkington, chairman of the Water Quality Management Committee.

Eco-toilet installation can run from as little as $5,000 to as much as $25,000, depending on the system. The betterments are expected to run nearly $18,000 per residence plus a one-time hookup fee.

Despite the low turnout, Turkington said enough homes in Falmouth will have the devices installed to allow a study about their effectiveness to continue.

County health workers are monitoring the soil quality at homes with eco-toilets to determine how much nitrogen they manage to divert and how much continues to infiltrate the groundwater via other sources, including kitchen and laundry water. The results of the study are expected in early 2015.



http://www.capecodtimes.com/article/20141117/NEWS/141119663/101015/NEWSLETTER100