Community Action Team has a new septic system repair program.

In Oregon’s rural counties, failing septic systems often pose an invisible threat to the community, slowly leaking into nearby wells and streams.

With the help of a $1.5 million septic system repair grant from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, three counties are looking to change that.

Last year, Tillamook County applied for the grant with the assistance of Community Action Team, a St. Helens-based nonprofit serving the region. Since then, the county signed a memorandum of understanding with Clatsop and Columbia counties, ensuring access across the region to Community Action Team’s new septic system repair program.

“There was a lot of need out there in the community, so we were relieved when DEQ decided to put this out there, because we had already identified quite a few folks,” said Casey Mitchell, Community Action Team’s weatherization and housing rehab program director.

Mitchell said the aim of the program is twofold. Broken septic systems can put homeowners out of compliance with the county, but they can also be expensive to fix. One goal is to help low-income residents stay in their homes. The repair program is set up as a revolving loan fund, allowing eligible homeowners to take out a 30-year, zero-interest, zero-payment loan that will eventually be cycled back into the program.

Mitchell hopes to reach at least 100 homeowners by June, when applications close.

Community Action Team initially sent out 50 applications, prioritizing properties identified by the three counties and then notifying septic system installers and pumpers. Around a dozen properties are now preparing for boots-on-the-ground work to begin.

“We’re trying to use every method we can come up with to make sure that when we spend out on this grant that we didn’t leave somebody behind that really needed the help but didn’t know it was available, because I don’t know when this kind of funding is going to come back around again,” Mitchell said.

The project also aims to address environmental and public health concerns.

Broken septic systems can leak into local water supplies, prompting toxic algae blooms, shellfish contamination and health risks for swimmers and boaters. Tillamook Estuaries Partnership, a Tillamook County-based environmental organization, is working to track that contamination.

“The closer (septic systems) are to the stream, the more likely they are to contribute to pollution if they’re not functioning correctly,” said York Johnson, the nonprofit’s water quality manager and the North Coast Basin coordinator at the Department of Environmental Quality.

The estuaries partnership has overseen a regional volunteer water quality monitoring program since the late 1990s, helping to identify bacteria levels and trends in local bodies of water. They’ve also participated in two studies using environmental DNA to determine whether E. coli contamination is coming from humans or animals.

Mitchell hopes that moving forward, the monitoring data can help Community Action Team understand whether their repair program is making a difference.

Tillamook Estuaries Partnership has also launched its own septic system repair pilot program. While the two programs differ in some ways, Johnson said both can be part of a solution.

For him, the hope is for fewer broken septic systems and greater community health.

“The more folks that participate, and the more septic systems that are checked out and upgraded or repaired if they need it, the better for water quality, the better for our recreational activities out on the coast and the better for human health in general,” Johnson said.