t Marine Recovery Area status up for adoption June 3.

A new environmental restoration plan could see North Kitsap’s Liberty Bay designated as a Marine Recovery Area by the county next week.

The Kitsap County Health District is looking at the bay as one of its top priorities, and if the bay is adopted into the program, staff will begin sanitary survey work for 200 to 400 bay-area homes in late 2009.

The upper portion of Burley Lagoon in South Kitsap is also being considered as a Marine Recovery Area.

The Health District held two public meetings, in Poulsbo and Port Orchard, on the topic this week.

Marine Recovery Areas are designated in one of three ways:

• when shellfish are threatened or downgraded by the state’s Department of Health;

• when marine waters are listed as “impaired” by the Department of Ecology under the Federal Clean Water Act for fecal coliform bacteria or low dissolved oxygen; or,

• when marine waters are contaminated with nitrogen.

The Marine Recovery Area designation program is a result of new state legislation for onsite sewage systems.

The legislation requires counties develop local management plans to system oversight and protect sensitive areas.

Three marine water monitoring stations in Liberty Bay are listed as impaired for fecal coliform bacteria, and three of four streams running into the bay exceed state water quality standards for fecal coliform.

Of the homes to be surveyed in Poulsbo, possibly 10 to15 percent — 20 to 30 homes — could have failing systems, said Jerry Deeter, county director of environmental health.

Many in the area are at high risk from age, soils and seasonal high water tables.

Deeter said the survey process will most likely be held over the winters of 2009 and 2010, so that systems can be inspected when water tables are high.

He said the average life of a system is usually between 15 to 25 years, and estimated replacements could be upwards of $15,000.

The effort, he said, isn’t one trying to find problems that don’t exist.

“If we don’t have to repair them (the systems), then we won’t,” Deeter said. “We won’t make people go through that hardship. (But) if they need to be repaired, then they need to be repaired.”

Homeowners who do need to replace a system will have 30 days to come up with a design for one, and can then work with the county on the rest of the process.

The Health District also offers a septic loan program through ShoreBank to help those with low incomes who need a system replacement.

Systems are supposed to be checked for problems every three years. This fall, the Health District will send three-year checkup reminders to 15,000 homes.

At a meeting Tuesday night in Poulsbo, some residents questioned the need to survey sewers in relation to other bay contaminants.

Boat discharges and the city’s own sewer system failures were mentioned. A string of sewage leaks within the past five years has released 900,000 gallons into the bay from the city’s system.

Deeter said all aspects of the bay contamination problem will be addressed, including making sure Poulsbo’s marinas have proper pump facilities, working with the city to prevent illicit discharge and partnering with the state’s conservation district to educate small hobby farms on ways to keep contaminants out of nearby streams.

Private sewer systems are only a part of the problem, Deeter acknowledged, but are still necessary to address.

“It’s a lot more than just one thing,” he said. “If you just did the one than you wouldn’t be addressing the whole problem.”

The end game, he said, is to meet state water quality standards.

“Our hope is that we get them to meet the state standard for marine quality and for fresh water quality. That’s our ultimate goal when we do any cleanup project,” he said.

Twelve marine counties in the state are falling under the new legislation. Deeter said Kitsap is ahead of the rest because it has the funding for ongoing monitoring and can implement more programs than other counties.

The designations are scheduled for consideration at the Kitsap County Board of Health’s June 3 meeting, at 11:20 a.m. in the Norm Dicks Government Center.

The new management plan is available to view at www.kitsapcountyhealth.com for more information.