This is Part 3 of The Scoop on Poop; part of a weekly series provided by the Conservation Commission related to human and pet waste. It's an unglamorous subject but an important one as we strive towards a cleaner environment. This week's topic: Community Wastewater for the Lower Village.

For most Huntington residents, where our own human waste goes is personal: it goes into the ground on our own property! Two future posts will focus specifically on privately owned septic systems but in this edition of "The Scoop on Poop," I'm going to writer about the possibility of a community wastewater system for Huntington's lower village.

In Huntington's villages, and in the lower village in particular, our reliance on individual systems for treating wastewater presents a number of challenges. First, many systems are very old and some are failing. Failing or outdated systems (including some properties with "cess pools") can result in human waste and household chemicals leaching into our groundwater and well systems as well as into the Huntington River. Small lots and required distance between wells and septic systems represent a major barrier to replacing individual systems for many homeowners in the lower village. The creation of new village-scale businesses or changes in use to existing structures like a small cafe, senior housing, or a restaurant or micro-brewery or even simply adding a mother-in-law apartment to your house -- all of these are difficult to nearly impossible given current conditions. Community wastewater could serve to allow some of these uses in the future, and to protect our dense, historic village and environment as well.

On Monday, November 8th at 7pm, the Huntington Planning Commission will host a presentation by engineering firm DuBois and King on work to assess whether it is economically and practically feasible to construct a wastewater system for Huntington's lower village. We also have a website and, if you live in the lower village, a survey -- more information is available here: https://bit.ly/huntington_wastewater and the survey here: https://bit.ly/huntington_survey

Please reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!
--
Isaac Lawrence

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