A team of four Vashon residents calling themselves the “Septic Sisters” have convened to help islanders plumb the depths of their knowledge about septic system maintenance.
The program, which goes by the official name of Vashon Team Septic, is a pilot collaboration between Public Health — Seattle King County (PHSKC) and the Vashon-Maury Island Groundwater Protection Committee.
It aims to help islanders maintain and better understand their septic systems, access support for upgrades and replacements, and advocate for better service and support from septic providers and regulators — and for passing the island’s feedback on to King County.
The sisters themselves are Stephanie Begley, Dione Mazzolini, Jane Slade, each volunteers, and team manager Anne Atwell, whose role is funded by a grant in partnership with Public Health and the Groundwater Protection Committee.
Keeping septic systems in good shape helps the island as a whole. In 2020, reports of foul odors along stretches of the island’s shoreline prompted research by the Public Health department, which by 2022 had found nine failing septic systems in the North Colvos beach area.
Failing or underperforming septic systems threaten the health of homeowners, their neighborhoods, the island’s “sole-source” aquifer and Puget Sound itself, Groundwater Protection Committee member Mary Bruno said.
“It’s your health, a healthier community … and it’s your property values too, if you want to get all capitalistic about it,” Bruno said.
Bruno worked with Meagan Jackson, the PHSKC program supervisor in charge of the North Colvos project, and Jackson’s team, in dreaming out the idea.
People should have their septic systems inspected, but some might feel trepidation at getting in trouble for a failing or substandard system, Bruno said. So this new septic team is a kind of “safe first place” to ask questions or concerns about ones’ septic system, she said.
“You’re not sticking your head above the foxhole, and having the county see that maybe there’s a problem,” Bruno said.
Bruno also credited Jackson and her team with working to make the county more of a partner and less of a punisher when it comes to problematic septic systems.
Mazzolini is a former environmental engineer who has worked on septic systems, Slade has experience dealing with a failed septic system at a house on Quartermaster Harbor, Begley is a data-minded accountant who brings analytical skill to the team, and Atwell is an experienced community organizer and communicator.
In this early stage, Atwell said, the group wants to learn what issues people are having with their septic systems and how they can help. King County is undergoing code revisions for septic systems, and islanders will have opportunities to give input this spring.
The septic team is a pilot program that will likely last for a couple of years, Bruno said. If effective, the county could replicate it elsewhere.
The Septic Sisters will helm a booth at the Vashon Home and Garden Show at Vashon High School on March 16 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., where they will take questions and suggestions.
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