United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water (4204) Washington, DC 20460 EPA 832-F-99-060 October 1999 U.S. Census Data on Small Community Housing and Wastewater Disposal and Plumbing Practices Many people in small communities, those with fewer than 10,000 people, don't have access to public sewers. For these residents alternative wastewater systems are often used to solve their communities' public health problems and to help them comply with the Clean Water Act. The 1990 Decennial Census of Population and Housing says 30 percent of all Americans live in small communities; 31.8 percent of the Nation's housing units are located in these communities (Figure 1). The Census contains information on the structural characteristics of these houses, plus wastewater disposal methods and types of plumbing facilities. Did you know ... ? • 77 million people live in small communities. • 11.7 million housing units in small commu- nities are served by public sewers; 19.8 mil- lion use septic tanks or cesspools, and 917,373 use outhouses or privies. • Pennsylvania has the most people living in small communities (4.4 million), and Texas has the greatest number of housing units in small communities (1,877,889). • California has the highest number of housing units using outhouses or privies (67,865). Figure 1. Housing Units in Small Communities 9 10 EPA Region The sections that follow contain information on small community housing, wastewater disposal practices, and existing plumbing facilities. AIT data presented here are derived from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing. Table 1 provides a state-by-state summary of small community population, housing, sewage disposal and plumbing data. Wastewater Disposal Methods The Census Bureau categorizes U.S. wastewater disposal into three types: public sewer, septic tank or cesspool, and "other" means, such as privies and outhouses. In large communities (those with more than 10,000 people) almost 93 percent of the housing units are connected to a public sewer, 7 percent use septic tanks or cesspools, and 0.3 per- cent use other means (Figure 2). In contrast, about 61 percent of housing units in small communities use a septic tank or cesspool for wastewater ------- Figure 2. Wastewater Disposal Method Small communities Large communities National average H Public sewer HI Septic tank or cesspool Q Other means disposal. Approximately 36 percent are hooked up to public sewers and nearly 3 percent use an alter- native means of disposal. Other states with large numbers of small community housing units using outhouses/privies are: Kentucky (55,764), Pennsylvania (47,902), Missouri (46,223), and North Carolina (45,461). Figure 3 shows that in eight out of ten Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regions, septic tanks and cesspools are used by more than 50 percent of the small community housing units. When comparing the EPA regions, the proportion of housing units using septic tanks and cesspools varies. For example, in Region 1 about 71 percent of the homes use septic tanks or cesspools for sewage disposal as compared to 45 percent in Regions 7 and 8. Plumbing Facilities According to the Census, complete plumbing facilities means that a housing unit has hot and cold piped water, a flush toilet, and a bathtub or shower. All three facilities must be located inside the home but not necessarily in the same room. Nationwide, 2.3 percent of housing units in small communities have incomplete plumbing facilities. This amounts to nearly three quarters of a million homes that have inadequate plumbing. Alaska has the highest percentage of incomplete plumbing facilities (24.6 percent), followed by Arizona (7.8 percent), New Mexico (7.4 percent), and Kentucky (5.0 percent). When evaluated by numbers rather than percentages, Texas has the Figure 3. Wastewater Disposal Methods in Small Communities 2.3 1.6 3.6 EPA Region 10 % w/ sewer % w/ septic tank or cesspool % w/ other means of disposal ------- Figure 4. Lack of Complete Plumbing Facilities in Small and Large Communities 456 EPA Region 10 Small communities Large communities highest number of incomplete plumbing facilities (50,214) in housing units, followed by Kentucky (41,707) and Virginia (40,162). Small communities have a bigger problem with incomplete plumbing than large ones. Figure 4 illustrates the disparity between the percentages of small community housing units with incomplete plumbing facilities and large community housing units with incomplete plumbing facilities by EPA region. The percent of housing units in large com- munities with incomplete plumbing does not exceed 0.7 percent for any EPA region, whereas in small communities the percent is as high as 3.8 percent. As highlighted in Table 1, more than 70 percent of the Nation's housing units that lack complete plumbing facilities are in small communities. EPA recognizes that small communities lag behind others in addressing their wastewater treatment and disposal needs. The Agency has, therefore, established several financial and technical assistance programs and centers to help these communities obtain appropriate sewage treatment and disposal systems. To learn more about these programs, visit the Office of Wastewater Management's website: http://www.epa.gov/OWM. Additional copies of this fact sheet may be obtained by contacting the Office of Water Resources Center in EPA at (202) 260-7786 and referring to the document number EPA 832J?-99-060. You may also visit our Website (http://w\yw-epa.gov/OWM/smallc.htm) to obtain other summaries of this information. . :.;.._: ^. .,:...... :'. .' . ... - . .;•'••••"'••' ------- Table 1. State-by-State Summary of 1990 U.S. Census Bureau Data for Population, Housing, Sewerage, and Plumbing Data for Small Communities (Population < 10,000) State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kanns Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Total State Population Total SUitc 4.040.587 550.043 3.665,228 2,350,725 29,760,021 3,294,394 3587.116 666.168 12,937,926 6,478,216 1.108.229 11.006,749 11,430.602 5.544,159 2.776,755 2.477.574 3,685.296 4.219,973 1,227,928 4.781,468 6,016,425 9,295,297 4,375,099 2,573,216 5,117,073 799,065 1.576,385 1.201.833 1,109.252 7.730,188 1,515,069 17.990.455 6.628,637 638.800 10.847.115 3.145.585 2,842.321 11.881,643 1,003,464 3,486,703 696,004 4,877,185 16,936.510 1.722.850 562,758 6,187,358 4,866.692 1,793.477 4,891,769 453,588 248,102,973 Small Communities 1,955,069 203,620 743,254 1,439,862 3,134,136 802.425 770.840 206.674 2,477,852 2.814,664 285,086 568,485 2,411,256 2,365,796 1,500,990 1,003.165 2,085.937 1,736,249 853,406 1,086,674 1.152,633 3,229,265 1,642,933 1,593,929 2,017,759 482,145 690,562 224,733 629,261 1,009,741 586,186 3.405,728 3,716.384 356,972 3.386.065 1.321,874 1.678.644 4,400,283 162,328 1,953,177 411,361 2.260,513 4.351,950 320,461 457,655 2,152.387 1,428,491 1,295,502 2,130,499 238.752 77,133,613 Percent In Small Comm- unities 48.4 37.0 20,3 61.3 10.5 24.4 23.5 31.0 19.2 43.4 25.7 56.5 21.1 42.7 54.1 40.5 56.6 41.1 69.5 22.7 19.2 34.7 37.6 61.9 39.4 60.3 43.8 18.7 56.7 13.1 38.7 18.9 56.1 55.9 31.2 42.0 59.1 37.0 16.2 56.0 59.1 46.3 25.6 18.6 81.3 34.8 29.4 72.2 43.6 52.6 31.1 Housing Units ' Total State 1,670,379 232,608 1,659,430 1,000,667 11,182,882 1,477,349 1,320,850 289,919 6,100,262 2,638,418 389,610 413,327 4,506,275 , 2,246,046 1,143,669 1,044,112 1,506,845 1,716,241 587,045 1,891,917 2,472,711 3,847,926 1,848,445 1,010,423 2,199,129 361,155 660,621 518,858 503,904 3,075,310 632.058 7,226,891 2,818,193 276,340 4,371,945 1,406,499 1,193,567 4,938,140 414,572 1,424,155 292,436 2,026,067 7,008,999 598,388 271,214 2,496,334 2,032,378 781,295 2,055,774 203,411 101,985,189 Small Communities 804,943 114,566 346,203 611,902 1,293,543 398,110 304,708 109,302 1,180,366 1,113,443 105,127 241,779 965,537 927,036 619,418 426,348 841,428 683,618 426,184 433,671 503,488 1,442,214 739,891 614,507 881,243 223,483 299,059 100,384 301,667 438,517 249,149 1,470,717 1,607,575 159,122 1,276,835 586,779 469,876 1,832,009 68,654 783,883 175,166 922,990 1,877,889 129,025 228,288 877,250 603,067 551,521 954,561 111,372 32,427,413 Percent In Small Comm- unities 48.2 49.3 20.9 61.1 11.6 26.9 23.1 37.7 19.3 42.2 27.0 58.5 21.4 41.3 54.2 40.8 55.8 39.8 72.6 22.9 20.4 37.5 40.0 60.8 40.1 61.9 45.3 19.3 59.9 14.3 39.4 20.4 57.0 57.6 29.2 41.7 39.4 37.1 16.6 55.0 59.9 45.6 26.8 21.6 84.2 35.1 29.7 70.6 46.4 54.8 31.8 Sewage Disposal (Housing Units)2 Total State Public Sewer 910,782 144,905 1,348,836 601,188 10,022,843 1,283,186 935,541 212,793 4,499,793 1,638,979 312,812 264,618 3,885,689 1,525,810 869,056 847,767 849,491 1,246,678 266,344 1,533,799 1,803,176 2,724,408 1,356,520 585,185 1,617,996 218,372 534,692 456,107 250,060 2,703,489 452,934 5,716,917 1,403,033 204,328 3,392,785 1,028,594 835,545 3,670,338 293,901 825,754 207,996 1,213,934 5,690,550 528,864 115,201 1,740,787 1,387,396 427,930 1,440,024 151,004 76,178,730 Septic Tank or Cesspool 728,690 59,886 282,897 382,467 1,092,174 183,817 378,382 74,541 1,559,113 970,686 72,940 142,879 598,125 703,032 264,889 187,398 600,182 442,758 301,373 342,523 659,120 1,090,481 467,938 387,406 532,844 135,371 117,460 60,508 246,692 357,890 161,068 1 ,460,873 1,365,632 66,479 940,943 367,197 349,122 1,210,054 118,410 578,129 78,435 781,616 1,266,713 65,403 149,125 707,409 630,646 318,697 580,836 49,055 24,670,302 No Treatment (Outhouses and Privies) 30,907 27,817 27,697 17,012 67,865 10,346 6,927 2,585 41,356 28,753 4,058 5,830 22,461 17,204 9,724 8,947 57,172 26,805 19,328 15,595 10,415 33,037 23,989 37,832 48,289 7,412 8,469 2,243 7,152 13,931 18,056 49,101 49,528 5,533 38,217 10,708 8,900 57,748 2,261 20,272 6,005 30,517 51,736 4,121 6,888 48,138 14,336 34,668 34,914 3,352 1,136,157 Total w/o Public Seworc 759,597 87,703 310,594 399,479 1,160,039 194,163 385,309 77,126 1 ,600,469 999,439 76,998 148,709 620,586 720,236 274,613 196,345 657,354 469,563 320,701 358,118 669,535 1,123,518 491,925 425,238 581,133 142,783 125,929 62,751 253,844 371 ,821 179,124 1,509,974 1,4,15,160 72,012 979,160 377,905 358,022 1 ,267,802 120,671 598,401 84,440 812,133 1,318,449 69,524 156,013 755,547 644,982 353,365 615,750 62,407 25,806,459 Percent w/o Public Sewers 45.5 37.7 18.7 39.9 10.4 13.1 29.2 26.6 26.2 37.9 19.8 36.0 13.8 32.1 24.0 18.8 43.6 27.4 54.6 18.9 27.1 29.2 26.6 42.1 26.4 39.5 19.1 12.1 50.4 12.1 28.3 20.9 50.2 26.1 22.4 26.9 30.0 25.7 29.1 42.0 28.9 40.1 18.8 11.6 57.5 30.3 31.7 45.2 30.0 25.8 25.3 Percent w/o Treatment (Outhouses and Privies) 1.9 12.0 1.7 1.7 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.9 0.7 1.1 1.0 1.4 0.5 0.8 0.9 .0.9 3.8 1.6 3.3 0.8 0.4 0.9 1.3 3.7 2.2 2.1 1.3 0.4 1.4 0.5 2.9 0.7 1.8 2.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 1.2 0.5 1.4 2.1 1.5 0.7 0.7 2.5 1.9 0.7 4.4 1.7 1.6 1.1 (continued) ------- Table 1. State-by-State Summary of 1990 U.S. Census Bureau Data for Population, Housing, Sewerage, and Plumbing Data for Small Communities (Population < 10,000) State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Total Sewage Disposal (Housing Units)1 Small Communities Public Sewer 190,040 40,379 135,533 234,249 548,372 220,473 66,968 39,515 425,834 306,578 45,199 107,165 480,715 324,904 363,477 250,206 240,761 258,506 124,159 144,443 128,907 448,179 289,275 207,715 350,252 94,265 177,924 53,722 81,540 220,552 97,013 446,664 360,630 87,71 1 460,113 259,393 185,116 699,323 14,542 267,035 93,167 230,658 734,620 70,816 77,090 220,531 171,856 208,265 369,712 60,554 11,714,616 Septic Tank or Cesspool 586,404 47,229 185,198 361,501 725,210 168,470 234,201 67,717 735,367 782,166 57,106 129,008 470,635 587,456 246,857 168,086 544,903 404,089 283,107 279,254 370,365 967,535 427,733 370,522 484,768 122,015 112,829 45,143 213,384 213,938 134,867 998,022 1,201,484 65,921 785,901 318,107 276,932 1,084,784 53,097 498,317 76,063 664,024 1,106,450 54,312 144,340 612,272 419,458 309,180 552,139 47,558 19,795,424 No Treatment (Outhouses and Privies) 28,499 26,958 25,472 16,152 19,961 9,167 3,539 2,070 19,165 24,699 2,822 5,606 14,187 14,676 9,084 8,056 55,764 21,023 18,918 9,974 4,216 26,500 22,883 36,270 46,223 7,203 8,306 1,519 6,743 4,027 17,269 26,031 45,461 5,490 30,821 9,279 7,828 47,902 1,015 18,531 5,936 28,308 36,819 3,897 6,858 44,447 11,753 34,076 32,710 3,260 917,373 Total w/o Public Sewers 614,903 74,187 210,670 377,653 745,171 177,637 237,740 69,787 754,532 806,865 59,928 134,614 484,822 602,132 255,941 176,142 600,667 425,112 302,025 289,228 374,581 994,035 450,616 406,792 530,991 129,218 121,135 46,662 220,127 217,965 152,136 1,024,053 1,246,945 71,411 816,722 327,386 284,760 1,132,686 54,112 516,848 81,999 692,332 1,143,269 58,209 151,198 656,719 431,211 343,256 584,849 50,818 20,712,797 Percent w/o Public Sewers 76.4 64.8 60.9 61.7 57.6 44.6 78.0 63.8 63.9 72.5 57.0 55.7 50.2 65.0 41.3 41.3 71.4 62.2 70.9 66.7 74.4 68.9 60.9 66.2 60.3 57.8 40.5 46.5 73.0 49.7 61.1 69.6 77.6 44.9 64.0 55.8 60.6 61.8 78.8 65.9 46.8 75.0 60.9 45.1 66.2 74.9 71.5 62.2 61.3 45.6 63.9 Percent w/o Treatment (Outhouses and Privies) 3.5 23.5 7.4 2.6 1.5 2.3 1.2 1.9 1.6 2.2 2.7 2.3 1.5 1.6 1.5 1.9 6.6 3.1 4.4 2.3 0.8 1.8 3.1 5.9 5.2 3.2 2.8 1.5 2.2 0.9 6.9 1.8 2.8 3.5 2.4 1.6 1.7 2.6 1.5 2.4 3.4 3.1 2.0 3.0 3.0 5.1 1.9 6.2 3.4 2.9 2.8 Percent of Total w/o Treat- ment That Are In Small Communities 92.2 96.9 92.0 94.9 29.4 88.6 51.1 80.1 46.3 85.9 69.5 96.2 63.2 85.3 93.4 90.0 97.5 78.4 97.9 64.0 40.5 80.2 95.4 95.9 95.7 97.2 98.1 67.7 94.3 28.9 95.6 53.0 91.8 99.2 80.6 86.7 88.0 83.0 44.9 91.4 98.9 92.8 71.2 94.6 99.6 92.3 82.0 98.3 93.7 97.3 80.7 (continued) ------- Table 1. State-by-State Summary of 1990 U.S. Census Bureau Data for Population, Housing, Sewerage, and Plumbing Data for Small Communities (Population < 10,000) Stale Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Malm Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Total Plumbing Facilities (Housing Units)3 Total State Complete 1,642,879 203.584 1,627,959 982,261 11,113,501 1,465,571 1.315,105 288,197 6,072,305 2,609,956 385,498 407,309 4,476,959 2,229.811 1,133,898 1,036,261 1,462,623 1,694.335 566.269 1,879,232 2.460,345 3,815,434 1,824,081 988,572 2,172,297 354,144 655,379 516,156 497,996 3.059,718 612.087 7,159,544 2,775,231 270,763 4.339,037 1,392.742 1,183,174 4,891,083 412,319 1,403,978 286.513 1,993,707 6,923,924 592,522 265,092 2.450,215 2,013,760 756,226 2,025,997 200,194 100,885,743 Lacking Complete 27,500 29,024 31,471 18,406 69,381 11,778 5,745 1,722 27,957 28,462 4,312 6,018 29,316 16,235 9,771 7,851 44,222 21,906 20,776 12,685 12,366 32,492 24,364 21,851 26,832 7,011 5,242 2,702 5,908 15,592 19,971 67,347 42,962 5,577 32,908 13,757 10,393 47,057 2,253 20,177 5,923 32,360 85,075 5,866 6,122 46,119 18,618 25,069 29,777 3,217 1,099,446 Percent Lacking Complete 1.6 12.5 1.9 1.8 0.6 0.8 0.4 0.6 0.5 1.1 1.1 1.5 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.8 2.9 1.3 3.5 0.7 0.5 0.8 1.3 2.2 1.2 1.9 0.8 0.5 1.2 0.5 3.2 0.9 1.5 2.0 0.8 1.0 0.9 1.0 0.5 1.4 2.0 1.6 1.2 1.0 2.3 1.8 0.9 3.2 1.4 1.6 1.1 Small Communities Complete 782,169 86,342 319,120 595,673 1,277,516 389,018 302,993 108,130 1,171,331 1,091,629 102,403 236,179 954,388 915,524 611,370 420,209 799,721 668,259 406,248 426,431 500,367 1,419,151 719,053 595,047 860,414 217,237 294,940 99,210 296,468 436,734 230,630 1,449,787 1,569,894 153,874 1,255,290 576,956 462,474 1,800,122 68,092 766,71 1 169,539 895,115 1,827,675 124,376 222,316 837,088 590,149 527,584 929,618 108,551 31,669,115 Lacking Complete 22,774 28,224 27,083 16,229 16,027 9,092 1,715 1,172 9,035 21,814 2,724 5,600 11,149 11,512 8,048 6,139 41,707 15,359 19,936 7,240 3,121 23,063 20,838 19,460 20,829 6,246 4,119 1,174 5,199 1,783 18,519 20,930 37,681 5,248 21,545 9,823 7,402 31,887 562 17,172 5,627 27,875 50,214 . 4,649 5,972 40,162 12,918 23,937 24,943 2,821 758,298 Percent Lacking 2.8 24.6 7.8 2.7 1.2 2.3 0.6 1.1 0.8 2.0 2.6 2.3 1.2 1.2 1.3 1.4 5.0 2.2 4.7 1.7 0.6 1.6 2.8 3.2 2.4 2.8 1.4 1.2 1.7 0.4 7.4 1.4 2.3 3.3 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.7 0.8 2.2 3.2 3.0 2.7 3.6 2.6 4.6 2.1 4.3 2.6 2.5 2.3 Percent of Total Lacking Complete Plumbing That Are In Small Communities 82.8 97.2 86.1 88.2 23.1 77.2 29.9 68.1 32.3 76.6 63.2 93.1 38.0 70.9 82.4 78.2 94.3 70.1 96.0 57.1 25.2 71.0 85.5 89.1 77.6 89.1 78.6 43.4 88.0 11.4 92.7 31.1 87.7 94.1 65.5 71.4 71.2 67.8 24.9 85.1 95.0 86.1 59.0 79.3 97.5 87.1 69.4 95.5 83.8 87.7 69.0 1. Housing units are defined as separate living quarters (e.g., apartment, mobile home, a group of rooms, or single room) in which the occupants live and eat separately from other persons in the building. 2. Housing units are either connected to a public sewer, to a septic tank or cesspool, or have no treatment. A public sewer may be operated by a government or private organization. A septic tank or cesspool is an underground pit or tank for sewage treatment and no treatment indicates an outhouse or privie. 3. Complete plumbing facilities include hot and cold piped water, a flush toilet, and a bathtub or shower. All three facilities must be inside the house (housing unit), but not necessarily in the same room. Housing units are lacking complete plumbing when any of the three facilities are not present. ------- |