Septic Inspection Initiative 2019-2023

At its Board meeting on August 1, 2019 the Coalition agreed to press for periodic mandatory septic inspections. This was a result of the coalition's testing of the algal blooms in 2018 which demonstrated organic pollution. On November 7, 2020 the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed the first harmful algal bloom (HAB) off of Assembly Point. In kayaking around Assembly Point on November 10, 2020 two Coalition members observed not only the cyanobacteria, but also the fact the many water intake pipes were within two feet of the surface. The Coalition decided to go right to the top with a letter on December 4, 2020 to Governor Cuomo who then directed the Lake George Park Commission to take on the issue of a lake-wide septic inspection program to protect Lake George drinking water. The Coalition letter was co-signed by grass roots colleagues and groups from Cleverdale, Hague, Pilot Knob, Huletts Landing, Dunhams Bay, Protect the Adirondacks, the Adirondack Council, and the Lake George Land Conservancy.
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The HABs outbreak was the result of excessive nutrient loading. The DEC had identified in 2019 the need to implement an inspection program for near-shore septic systems. With aging septic systems and more than 6,000 unmonitored private systems within the Lake George watershed, the potential impact of failing systems on drinking water was enormous. Not satisfied with the slow pace of state action, the Towns of Queensbury and Bolton took matters into their own hands and enacted septic inspection upon property transfer laws in January 2019. However, while these laws were a step in the right direction, they left literally thousands of other septic systems around the lake unmonitored, uninspected and potentially malfunctioning without a fix in sight.
On December 4, 2020 the Coalition, the Lake Stewardship Group of Cleverdale and the Hague Water Quality Awareness Committee also wrote to the Lake George Park Commission urging it to undertake a lake-wide septic inspection program. On December 16, 2020 the Lake George Park Commission replied that 
The broader idea of mandatory septic inspections on a larger scale within the watershed merits a more detailed understanding of the impacts that septic systems are having on Lake George, ensuring that any recommendations are backed by the best available science and are programmatically and fiscally viable…As of yet, there is no modern, comprehensive lake-wide study of the link between septic systems and impaired water quality on Lake George. 
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The DEC Deputy Commissioner for Water Resources suggested that the grass roots groups urge the various Town Boards to pass resolutions calling upon the LGPC to undertake septic inspections. The Towns of Hague, Lake George, Ticonderoga, Queensbury and Bolton along with the Village of Lake George adopted the following resolution:
Whereas, the Town recognizes that Lake George is the economic engine for our region and that visitors are attracted by the lake’s crystal-clear waters; and
Whereas, residents and visitors rely on Lake George for their drinking water; and
Whereas, failing and poorly maintained septic systems around Lake George impact the lake’s water quality, thereby threatening not only people’s health but also the region’s economic viability; and
Whereas, the need for a lake-wide septic inspection program has been identified by multiple task forces, watershed coalitions, surveys and initiatives since the 1980s;
Now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby requests the Lake George Park Commission, as the entity empowered by the state to adopt rules and regulations for the collection, treatment and discharge of wastewater within the Lake George Park, to take the necessary steps to develop the framework for a lake-wide septic inspection program. 
This collective pressure spurred the LGPC to study the components of such a program. 
In February 2021 the Coalition issued a White Paper on a Lake-Wide Septic Inspection Program for Lake George together with colleagues from Cleverdale and Rockhurst. The paper reviewed all the previous recommendations for such a program, namely from the
Task Force for the Future of the Lake George Park, 1985 Lake George Watershed Conference, 2006 Lake George Watershed Atlas, 2026 Harmful Algal Bloom Action Plan for Lake George, 2018. The Coalition’s white paper also drew on the work of Dr. Carol Collins who wrote a paper on Onsite Wastewater Management-Critical Issues for Lake George, October 11, 2021. 
The Coalition advocated that the Lake George Park Commission administer the septic inspection program and that certified inspectors should be employed by the Commission. The Coalition reasoned that such a program needed to be uniform, lake-wide and implemented by the State rather than by individual municipalities. The Lake George Park Commission was the obvious choice to be the regulating authority since its authorizing legislation empowered it to adopt rules and regulations for the collection, treatment and discharge of wastewater with the Lake George Park.
 In 2021 the LGPC formed a Septic System Ad-Hoc Committee to take a look at whether septic systems were functioning as designed in the Lake George Park. The LGPC began in January 2022 to explore the implementation of a recurring septic inspection program. According to the press, “Spurred by a potentially harmful algal bloom, HAB, in 2020 the LGPC followed suit with other local agencies to initiate a septic system review program of properties closest to the lake.”  After two years of planning, the LGPC initiated its septic inspection program in the spring of 2023. Its purpose was to confirm the functionality of existing septic systems and ensure long term maintenance of these systems given their close proximity to Lake George. The 2,700 properties in the septic inspection area were divided among the five-year rotating inspection period, equaling 540 inspections each year.
The LGPC completed 320 inspections in 2023.  In 2024 it inspected only 331 septic systems; 41% passed, and 59% needed repairs, were substandard or failed. These results clearly validated the need for the inspection program. The goal of the program to inspect 500 systems per year has yet to be achieved.