ASSEMBLY, No. 2396

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED OCTOBER 7, 1996

By Assemblymen GIBSON and ASSELTA

An Act concerning septic system standards and supplementing Title 58 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. a. As used in this section:

    "Disposal field" means a disposal bed or group of one or more disposal trenches, the perimeter of which corresponds to the perimeter of the disposal bed or which circumscribes the outermost edges of the outermost disposal trenches and includes the area between the disposal trenches;

    "Level of infiltration" means the elevation of the horizontal interface or contact between filter material and soil or fill material;     "Mounded soil replacement disposal field" means a disposal field which is installed by excavating below the existing ground surface and installing fill material which is mounded up above the existing ground surface;

    "Soil replacement fill enclosed disposal field" means a disposal field which is installed by excavating below the level of infiltration to extend laterally at least two feet beyond the perimeter of the disposal field on all sides, and backfilling with suitable fill, and installing the disposal bed or trenches within the fill.

    b. For an individual septic system, the level of infiltration for soil replacement fill enclosed disposal field installations may be from the existing ground surface to three feet below the existing ground surface. For an individual septic system, the level of infiltration for mounded soil replacement disposal field installations may be from three feet below the existing ground surface to four feet above the existing ground surface.

    2. This act shall take effect 90 days from enactment.

STATEMENT

    This bill would authorize that for individual septic systems the level of infiltration for a disposal field be placed from the existing ground surface to three feet below the existing ground surface for soil replacement fill enclosed disposal fields and from three feet below the existing ground surface to four feet above the existing ground surface for mounded soil replacement disposal field installations. Current Department of Environmental Protection regulations do not allow that the level of infiltration be installed in the zone from one foot above existing ground level to one foot below existing ground level for the above types of disposal fields. However, for two types of disposal fields described above, there is no technical reason to prevent the level of infiltration from being so installed.

Concerns level of infiltration for individual septic system disposal fields.