User talk:Greybeard

Hey, I happened to see your discussion with User:Chocolateboy on his talk page regarding italicising combined with apostrophes. The trick it to use   tags. Surround the apostrophe with those tags and the wiki software will leave it alone. --fvw* 11:12, 2004 Nov 24 (UTC)

Septic tank
I note your rationale for your edits and apologise if my earlier reversions appeared precipitate - partly from my own misreading of the text. I do agree that well maintained tanks that are emptied at an appropriate frequency can last a lifetime (although that isn't quite what the current version says). I disagree however that "....In most jurisdictions this maintenance is required by law, yet often not enforced.." In the many jurisdictions with which I am familiar, there is no such requirement - and I spent my professional career regulating polluting inputs into the environment. Can you find a supporting reference for this statement, and preferably one that does not solely relate to the USA ? Regards  Velella  Velella Talk 21:56, 26 February 2012 (UTC)

I am most familiar with regulations around the Chicago area, but have recently become aware that the European Court of Justice is threatening to levy fines on Ireland for having maintenance regulations in place with no mechanism to enforce them. So, thats two places, one of which is an entire country. I'll see if I can dig up a reference to other locations where that condition exists. I'm pretty willing to accept the assertion that there are many locale's where regulations mandate maintenance. It seems only logical. And I'm not concerned with the assertion that without enforcement/inspections systems many systems will go un-maintained. That also seems fairly logical. I was very concerned with the implication that all systems would fail quickly even with proper maintenance and wanted to get that corrected. As I said, I will try to find sources for the other statements (which I didn't originally compose) greybeard (talk) 18:30, 7 March 2012 (UTC)


 * Your note about Ireland is interesting. In the UK, also part of the European Union and a signatory to its directives, control is exercised in general by descriptive conditions (a "Descriptive consent") which have little enforceable effect in law; and for those discharging into sensitive waters, the control is by numerical limits on key parameters such as B.O.D. suspended solids, total nitrogen etc. It is up to the owner or discharger to comply with those limits. Good maintenance is one obvious route but maintenance per se is not mandated.  Velella  Velella Talk 19:52, 7 March 2012 (UTC)