Is the rate of septic system failure in West Acton higher or lower than average? To answer this question, we looked at Title V septic inspections over a period of two decades.
Electronic inspection data is available from 1995 to 2016. For each inspection, we have the date, address and outcome (fail, pass or conditional pass). Below is a map of Title V inspection failures over this 21-year period:
From 1995 to 2016, there were 4,042 Title V inspections in Acton. Of these, 304 inspections were fails and 138 were conditional passes. This means that 7.5% of Title V inspections in Acton were fails. Of the 4,042 Title V inspections in Acton, 136 occurred in the proposed West Acton Sewer District. Of the 136 inspections in the district, 6 were fails and 3 were conditional passes. That means that 4.4% of West Acton Title V inspections were fails. Based on this data, the Title V fail rate in the proposed West Acton Sewer District, 4.4%, is lower than the Acton fail rate of 7.5%.
From this data we conclude that fail rate is not a motivation for sewering West Acton.
