NEWPORT, Wash. – A Newport couple left at a standstill; they were told they would have to wait a year to see if they could build a home after losing their first home in the devastating Oregon Road Fire.
When building a new home, a septic tank may not be the first thing you think of. However, it’s become the only thing on a Newport couple’s mind. The couple said Northeast Tri County Health told them that the soil on a property they bought may not support a septic system. It has been a year with three failed inspections. A fourth inspection is scheduled for next year, but there are no guarantees.
The couple, Steve Yuhaus and JonMarie were eager for a fresh start after losing everything. They decided to settle in Newport, Pend Oreille County.
“These are good people in this community here, and we just wanted to be a part of it,” said Steve.
What they didn’t know was that over a year later, they still wouldn’t have a home.
“It feels like a second loss without a fire,” said Steve.
The couple bought two neighboring lots, one for their home and the other for their septic system. They started work immediately and dug two 10-foot holes for their septic system. Northeast Tri-County Health officials came to their site and failed them. They told them they would have to dig deeper than required,12-foot holes.
“I got two of them, I’ve got two money pits,” said JonMarie
Then Northeast Tri County Health failed them again. The Yuhaus’ said they have spent close to $1000 on inspections.
“The roadblocks wouldn’t be bad, but every roadblock costs you $300,” said Steve.
Northeast Tri County Health came back for a third inspection and failed again, “the ground isn’t gonna change. It hasn’t changed since those were dug up in April. We could be living here right now,” said Steve.
The husband and wife, who had already endured much, said they were confused because a neighbor’s septic system was just on the other side of their property line.
“I can stand right here and see a septic system, and his clay is different from my clay,” said JonMarie.
During Northeast Tri County Health’s final visit, they said Yuhaus would have to install monitoring tubes and wait until spring 2025 for a wet season evaluation.
“You want us to wait a year? That’s two years without a home,” said JonMarie.
That’s when their community came together to try to help the couple, like Leo Robinson from Leo’s Excavation.
“The property is the same as everybody else’s. give the guy a septic,” said Robinson.
Robinson said he has been installing septic systems for close to four decades. He added that he had seen a shift in the last year: ” We’ve never been denied a system until this year.”
Robinson said part of the preliminary work is digging holes to ensure there’s no groundwater. For the work at the Yuhaus, “our holes were here, and there is no water in them,” said Robinson.
Proof, he believed that the requirements for a septic tank in Pend Oreille County were being met.
Nonstop Local spoke to Jon Ness from Northeast Tri County Health, who said public safety is their main priority, “One of our goals in the health district is to prevent contamination of groundwater, and that is one way that we ensure that that is protected.”
Ness, the Environmental Health Director for Northwest Tri County Health District who said the monitoring tubes are a non-negotiable necessary step, “there are more occurrences of where the soils are more challenging for septic systems.”
Ness said the couple was denied the first time because the type of topsoil was not suitable for a septic system. The second was for modeling, “what we are seeing in the soil is modeling, and that’s an indication that there is seasonal groundwater in the soil.”
Jarrold Whitehouse, a licensed designer in the State of Washington and a septic installer for 30 years, believes this issue boils down to one thing: “I believe this whole thing stems down to that they don’t understand soils.”
NonStop Local asked Whitehouse about the modeling in the soil. He said it’s not the type of modeling that would prevent the Yuhaus from getting a septic system; he explained the modeling could have happened a century ago.
“I don’t believe that this is current modeling I do believe there is more relic modeling or precipitation modeling,” said Whitehouse.
NonStop Local asked Ness if they agreed that this could be, in fact true.
“There is a possibility that it’s historical or relic modeling as they say,” said Ness.
Whitehouse added that this holdup seems unnecessary: ” In my opinion, there is really no reason why this couldn’t be done now.”
However, Northeast Tri County Health said they have ground to stand on, “what we have seen historically is high groundwater levels occur in earlier spring and when we do our wet season evaluations from March, April and May.”
NonStop Local asked Ness about the neighboring septic system that was approved just on the other side of their property line; he said they go on a case-by-case basis and “that neighboring property had that one foot of soil.”
Yuhaus’, Whitehorse and Robinson all said in the last year there has been an uptick in denying septic applications in the county. Rightnow, JonMarie said there are currently four people in their community who have been denied in the last year. Ness said it all comes down to the lay of the land.
“Some sites might have better soils than others. That offers us a better opportunity to install a septic system,” said Ness.
Ness gave context for what applications for septic systems have looked like in Pend Oreille County. He said that from 2017 to 2021, there were 301 septic applications, and two properties were never built on due to clay soil.
Ness did add that the Yuhaus’ most significant fear of not being approved depending on the results come the spring could be a reality, “that is a possibility, unfortunately.”
However, the couple, who has already lost everything, said they are not ready to bury this issue, “it’s just a good community. We are not just going to give up.”
