If you buy an undeveloped lot in Vermont and ther are undeveloped lots above and below you....
If you install a dug well near the upper property line and a leach field near the lower line, you essentially prevent your uphill neighbor from installing any septic system within 500' of your well. You also prevent your downhill neighbor from installing a well within 200' of your leachfield. It's all about who develops first.
Yup, you can essentially end up making your neighbor's lots unbuildable. Crazy, if you ask me.
It's a Catch 22. What you say is absolutely true, however it works both ways. If the upper lot were to develop their septic first then the middle lot couldn't put in their well.
The 500' wellhead protection shield for a shallow well is ridiculous though. I would like to see them require a signoof from the neighbors for a shallow well.
What are NH's isolation requirements?
Craig - and they pump sewage downhill in Vermont!
Craig, In NH, the well protection radius is 75' in all directions and the state makes you put your well at least 65' from the line (closer if the abutting property is unsuitable for septic systems). That way, the placement of the well or septic would never affect your neighbor's development plans.
Also, you are allowed to put your well closer than 65' from the line, but you have to sign and record a well release form which essentially would prohibit you from suing your neighbor if your well gets polluted from his septic.
Another crazy Vermont rule is that... If any part of your leach field ends up popping up above the existing grade (high seasonal high water table), they force you into pressurized distribution which ends up with the peculiar scenario of having to pump sewage downhill to create the pressure!
I would think the small force-main sewer systems would be coming popular like E-One. The expensive gravity main sewers with manholes no longer needed except for large main lines. I have plans to run one for about a mile and a half to connect into the city system for treatment. Of course there are other treatment systems for small systems also where not all lots need an individual septic system.
In Pennsylvania the well head protective radius is 100 ft. 500 feet seems excessive to me.
Do they have a minimum lot size to use on-site septic systems?
The rules depend on the site conditions. Steep slopes, pervious soils, shallow groundwater and bedrock, all would tend to require a larger seperation. But I agree that it seems unfair to allow an improvement to the property that makes an adjoiner un-improvable. People should be made to share the cost when what they do is affecting the neighbor in such a drastic way. Parcels should not be allowed to be created if this is the result, and if they pre-date the regulations causing the problem then all should share in some kind of solution.
Brian
I'm not that familiar w/ vermont rules, but I believe that the locations of the house and leach field have to be specified in the state subdivision plan so that conflicts do not happen w/ newly created lots. Of course, meeting the isolation distances (between well-septic) makes the practical minimum lots size at least 2-3 acres (more when wetlands, steep slopes, poor soils are involved.
