Gila County leaders take initiative to replace septic tanks that pollute community

GILA COUNTY, AZ — Septic tanks are an outdated and unsafe way to dispose of human waste. Still, 75,000 septic tanks Used by Arizonans.

The government banned them 1976but many of them have been incorporated into the system.

Leaders in the Gila Region still use more than 5,000 septic tanks, but a new effort by the state and federal government has been launched to replace them.

Susan Keown has lived in Gila County since the 1990s and has been trying to rid her real estate office of filth ever since.

“All of the drinking water in this community of ours comes from wells,” Keown said.

And the prevalence of septic tanks is already Dirty Christopher Creek. Waste in septic tanks untreatedand seeps into the soil, causing it to be placed on the EPA’s list of impaired streams.

“A few years ago, it was listed on the EPA’s impaired water supply list for nitrogen and E. Coli,” said Gila County Environmental Health Director Jake Garrett.

Concern from local residents and county officials led to state and federal governments stepping in.

“Septic pits and failing septic tanks are a problem all over the region,” said Martha Guzman of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Many septic tanks remain in place because the cost of replacing them is prohibitive for rural homeowners, he adds.

“Most people don’t have $15,000 to $20,000 to spend to do what’s best for them,” Guzman said.

With money coming to Arizona for water projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, state water agencies knew Gila County could benefit.

The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority hopes this will be the first round of $250,000 earmarked for cleaning septic tanks.

“They can actually start out, do two or three years of work, come back and reapply and get another $250,000,” Lindsey Jones said. “Until they get the whole problem sorted out.”