Board of Health

I will be selling my house in the near future. What BOH requirements should I meet?

a) You should have your septic system or cesspool inspected by a Certified Title 5 Inspector. These inspectors are certified by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). A list is available at the BOH office. Most companies that pump septic systems have a certified inspector on staff and they will provide this service. Make sure that you tell them that you want a proper Title 5 Inspection. If your system passes this inspection, you should have no impediments to selling your house as far as wastewater is concerned.

b) If your house is on a private well, you need to sample the water and have an analysis ready for the new owner and the BOH. Please refer to the details under “Regulations” section 8 “Well sampling requirements prior to transfer of property.”

I have a cesspool. Does that mean that it will automatically fail a Title 5 inspection?

A cesspool can pass a title 5 inspection if it is entirely above the ground water and if it still drains properly.

See the document attached to the next question for details on failure criteria.

I think my septic system is not working properly. What should I do?

The surest sign of failure of a system is if it does not drain properly and there is a wet patch, pooling of water or excessive grass growth near the system. Odors may or may not be present. You should have the system pumped and inspected. See details under the next question.

A certified Title 5 inspector has reported to me that my system has failed. What do I do now?

You need to start the process to upgrade your septic system. You need to follow through on these 7 steps:

a) Hire an designer/engineer: Hiring an experienced designer/engineer is a key step because that person will be doing the rest of the work on your behalf. Speak to your neighbors and others for references and their experiences. Be sure to hire someone who has local experience. Once the engineer is hired, the homeowner serves more as an expediter to make sure that the design process is moving along.

b) Performance of a percolation and soil evaluation test:  This is done in the presence of a Board of Health Agent, a qualified soil evaluator (generally the same as your engineer) and a backhoe operator who will dig trenches and boreholes to facilitate this examination. Your engineer will schedule this test. Typical reasons for performing this test include i) the septic system failed upon inspection by a DEP-certified inspector; ii) the system needs to be pumped more than four (4) times per year - a sign of incipient failure; iii) the system is not working as indicated by odors, overflowing septage, etc. or iv) you are contemplating an increase in the number of bedrooms which renders your existing septic system inadequate.

c) Design of the system by the engineer: Note that it sometimes takes about 4 to 6 weeks from the time of the perc test is done before the engineer has the data to start on the actual design. Because some of this data (on the location of seasonal high ground water level) has to come from US Geological Survey, there is no way to speed this up. During this process, the engineer will also survey the site to make sure that property boundaries, and land contours are known.

d) Submission of the design to the Board of Health for approval: This approval process, assuming that the design is satisfactory, takes about 15 to 20 days. However, if variances are needed, the homeowner or engineer have to get an official list of abutters from the Assessor’s Office, schedule a formal variance hearing at a BOH meeting via the BOH office and then inform the abutters at least 10 days before the variance hearing, as required by law, so that they can be present at the hearing in front of the Board of Health. Once the plan is approved, you can proceed to the next step: installation.

e) Selecting the installer: The homeowner can now use the approved plan to get at least 3 competitive bids for installation of the system from installers who have a permit to install septic systems in Wrentham. A list of these installers is available at the BOH offices.

f) Install the system. The Board of Health Agent will generally hold a preconstruction meeting with the installer and engineer before any construction can begin. The Agent will generally inspect the system two to three times during the installation process to ensure that the installation is proper. Title 5 also requires the engineer/designer to inspect the system several times during installation.  Also, the Board of Health requires that a final “as-built” plan be submitted to the Board since there can be small variations from the approved plan, approved on site by the Agent, because of site conditions. The installer and engineer also have to provide certifications to the Board of Health that the engineering and installation was in accordance to Title 5.

g) Certificate of Compliance: When the entire process is complete, the Board of Health Agent will issue a Certificate of Compliance. This Certificate is necessary for the homeowner to take advantage of the tax credit offered by Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

This is an area where the homeowner should take overall responsibility for obtaining documents from the contractors.

I live near a freshwater lake in Wrentham. What precautions should I take to protect the lake?

 I have heard the phrase "public health" many times. What exactly is public health? How did "public health" develop and evolve in the past 150 years?