Imagine, in Michigan, a couple has just purchased a home — there are no worrisome disclosures, no big repairs to take on. On the first warm weekend, they lay down mulch to plant perennials. Kneeling in the grass, they are unaware that a few feet below ground, their septic system has begun to malfunction, leaking waste into parts of their yard and polluting a nearby stream. 

The big question: Why weren’t they informed?

“For decades, we’ve known of this problem and been unable to address it,” says C. Crittenden, a Master of Health Informatics student at the University of Michigan School of Information. 

Michigan is the only U.S. state that has failed to implement a statewide septic code. Septic codes ensure regular maintenance of septic systems, while also setting standards for recordkeeping and what information is disclosed to homebuyers.

Crittenden grew up in Lansing, Michigan. As a child, they had a heightened awareness of water contamination as an issue because of the Flint water crisis. Flash forward to their first year of graduate school, when UMSI announced a theme year on water conservation and access. Crittenden and their classmates were challenged in a contextual inquiry course to investigate a drinking water-related issue in Michigan and propose a novel solution. 

For Crittenden, this project didn’t feel like an exciting unearthing; it felt like a lesson unlearned. 

She worked with team members Nimah Hasan, Megan Williams and Sarosh Manzar to confront Michigan’s failure to implement a statewide septic code. Collectively, the team represents nearly all of UMSI’s areas of study: health informatics, library science and digital archives, and user experience research and design. 

“Even though the four of us have a variety of focuses and degree programs, being in the School of Information helped us narrow our scope by really focusing on the information issues and the information gaps present,” says Williams, a Master of Science in Information student.

The team discovered that more than 1.3 million properties in Michigan have an onsite septic system. Yet some 30% of Michigan residents have no idea they own a septic system – often because they weren’t informed at the point of sale. Among those residents who are aware a septic system exists on their property, many have never been taught how to maintain it.

“If homeowners see waste go down the toilet, they're like, ‘Out of sight, out of mind. It looks great. It's functioning,’” Crittenden explains. “Whereas in the septic field there could be widespread contamination if it hasn't been properly maintained.”

How exactly does a septic system work? Most consist of a buried, watertight tank that captures heavy solids and a subterranean drain field where liquid wastewater is discharged to be filtered through gravel. 

In areas where a public sewer isn’t available, these on-site systems treat and dispose of a home’s wastewater. They can last for up to 30 years, but they have to be properly maintained. This includes having the system pumped every three to five years.

It’s good that septic systems are out of sight. Who wants to think about a concrete box underground that collects several years’ worth of contents from your toilet? But as the UMSI team discovered, when septic systems are out of mind, the consequences for public health and the environment can be disastrous.

Off the record

Currently, hundreds of thousands of malfunctioning septic systems release as much as 31 million gallons of untreated sewage into Michigan’s groundwater every day, according to estimates from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).

“A huge issue is waterborne diseases,” says Hasan, a dual-degree MHI and Master of Public Health student with a concentration in health management and policy. “The main concern is that, at a certain point, water isn’t drinkable if there are so many contaminants, including high levels of E. coli.” Residents can be exposed to E. coli from drinking untreated well water or swimming in contaminated rivers and lakes. 

Failing septic systems that are located near bodies of water should be the highest priority, the team says. But statewide records of the location, age and condition of septic systems are incomplete and inaccessible. 

“Many of the existing records are old, hand-drawn inspection maps from the ’60s, disorganized in file cabinets,” says Williams, who is on the library science and archives track at UMSI. “Getting a working database is key. We don’t really have a full picture of the potential for contamination that these systems could be contributing to.” 

Filling in gaps in the data has required unconventional approaches. Williams gives the example of an initiative she researched, which used scent-trained dogs to sniff out sewage in Michigan waters, and another that used infrared cameras on a boat to record septic contamination along a shoreline. These solutions were successful, but they aren’t longstanding. 

“It would require a lot of specialized labor to get files digitized and into a usable database,” Williams acknowledges. “But that is something that could be assisted with the passing of a septic code, which would devote resources and staff to put these procedures in place.” 

Looking beneath the surface

“When we started, it seemed really simple,” says Manzar, an MSI student on the user experience research and design track. “Just pass a statewide septic code. Problem solved. But it was really interesting and really eye-opening to see the complexities that are behind that. There are so many stakeholders at play — parties we didn't expect to be involved, from realtors to county governments.” 

Efforts to pass a statewide septic code have repeatedly failed, despite decades-long advocacy. The most recent attempt took place just last year. As emerging information professionals, Crittenden, Hasan, Manzar and Williams worked to figure out why these efforts have failed, in order to make informed recommendations for the future.

“We found some excellent interviewees, and they had experience when it comes to how they tried to pass a statewide septic code and the issues they went through,” Hasan says.

The team spoke with two individuals from the national environmental nonprofit The Conservation Fund, both of whom have experience cleaning up septic system issues in Michigan. This qualitative research revealed some historical pain points. 

It’s hard to make septic systems sexy, one expert shared, causing the issue to be deprioritized by many government officials. Competing interests also pose an issue — for example, some real estate agents worry about the effect a statewide septic code would have on their industry. 

In the absence of a statewide code, 11 of Michigan’s 83 counties have taken a proactive approach, implementing regional septic codes — the next best solution. But this is where things get murky. One expert shared that pushback against a statewide code has also come from these proactive counties, because of concerns that statewide proposals are not as stringent as their local standards. 

To develop a statewide code that is tailored to local needs, the UMSI team stresses the importance of facilitating communication between different stakeholders. County governments, realtors, public health officials and other experts should all have a seat at the table, the team says, in order to create a proposed statewide code that is watertight. 

Manzar hasn’t wavered on his initial conviction that Michigan needs to join the other 49 states in implementing a statewide septic code, but he now understands why the process has been drawn out.

The future is still really uncertain.

“One of our interviewees was confident that we would be able to pass the code in the next few years, but the other wasn’t,” he says. “The future is still really uncertain.” 

This is why educating homeowners about septic systems is so important, the team says. It’s a solution to water contamination that doesn’t hinge solely on policy.

“One of my biggest takeaways was how nuanced these problems are,” Crittenden says. “We had to take a step back and really think about the smartest way to approach this, prioritizing what needs to be done first. So, if there isn’t a statewide septic code, we need an educational focus on bodies of water that are becoming polluted.”  

Disparate access to information is a huge consideration, Crittenden adds. “We’re thinking about rural communities and outreach to them as an ethical issue,” she says. “Because they’re notoriously harder to communicate and engage with in terms of accessibility and funding.” 

The team’s key recommendation — alongside improving record-keeping and strengthening communication between stakeholders — is increasing homeowners’ awareness of educational resources from EGLE and nonprofit organizations like For Love of Water. They suggest using septic system providers and local health departments as a bridge between residents and necessary information.

Williams presented these findings in February at an event hosted by Water@Michigan. Jen Read, director of the U-M Water Center, said the team’s work is valuable because it highlights limitations as well as opportunities for the future.

Septic systems are an unlikely issue for graduate students to choose for a course project, but Williams says the team got pulled in. They felt motivated to respond to a public health and environmental time bomb ticking silently in our backyard. 

“I think our team had the spirit of completing this project and completing it well,” she says. “We dealt with it with that tenacity because it’s such an important issue.” 

LEARN MORE

UMSI’s theme year on water conservation and access challenged students to tackle urgent water-related issues in Michigan and around the globe, giving them access to relevant course projects, events and subject matter experts. 

Students in the contextual inquiry course, taught by lecturer Melissa Chalmers, learned about drinking water-related issues from Kris Donaldson, clean water public advocate for the State of Michigan. Read more here.