Private Sector Service Delivery for the Onsite Sewage and Water Supply Program

Comparison of Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Application data for the Onsite Sewage and Water Supply Program.

The following slideshow presentation introduces a statewide disparity in private sector service delivery. A series of maps created from VDH application data depict 3/4 of the Commonwealth with less than 50% private sector service delivery. Counties were mapped in bluish-green or teal where private sector service delivery was greater than 50%. Fewer than 23 counties statewide met that criteria consistently. The significant majority of counties with less than 50% private sector service delivery were mapped to appear blank or empty. The maps depicted in this presentation compare the percentage of private sector applications submitted for fiscal year 2007 with fiscal year 2011.

Private sector service delivery means an Onsite Sewage and Water Supply Program application was submitted with supporting documentation. Supporting documentation must be designed and certified by either a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) or by a licensed Onsite Soil Evaluator (OSE). These are the only two groups of licensed professionals approved in Virginia to design and conduct site evaluations for septic systems or other onsite sewage system permit applications.

Private sector service delivery was mapped for fiscal years 2007 and 2011 in this presentation. The time frame was based on similar Five-Year charts of OSE/PE work found in Report Document 32 (General Assembly, 2012), a report to the Honorable Delegates Robert D. Orrock, Sr. and Lynwood W. Lewis, Jr., Private Sector Service Delivery for the Onsite Sewage and Water Supply Program - December 2011. In addition, much of the data collection and evaluation for Report Document 32 (RD32) was generated from the Virginia Environmental Information System (VENIS). As a result, corresponding data sets to RD32 were assembled from existing VENIS "application totals" to create these maps.

The overall difficulty was expressing OSE/PE participation statewide as an equivalent value for each county. Among other influences, any measure of OSE/PE work needed to be independent of real estate boom or bust cycles, county population sizes, and the growth or decline of Onsite Sewage and Water Supply Program applications for a given county. A reasonably unbiased "metric" of private sector service delivery was discovered by calculating the OSE/PE applications as a percentage (%) of the total applications for a given county. Therefore, counties with 50% or greater OSE/PE participation had at least half the supporting documentation submitted by a private sector OSE/PE.

Many thanks to the Virginia Association of Onsite Soil Evaluators (VAAOSE) for contributing these maps for this presentation: {To View Full Screen, Double-Click Here}