Madison Landing, Development and Alternative Sewage Treatment

A few people were unhappy that I endorsed the use of alternative sewage systems for projects such as Madison Landing. The details are in the comments to yesterday's post, here.

What I should make clear -- and what I thought went without saying -- is that I endorse the use of alternative sewage technologies if they work. I endorse the use of alternative sewage technologies for projects that make sense. I do not endorse them for typical suburban sprawl subdivisions or shopping centers, and I do not endorse them for projects that couldn't otherwise be built because the land on which they are proposed has true environmental constraints.

One of the things I said yesterday to a fellow from Madison who is leading the opposition to Madison Landing is that I would no sooner take his word on the effectiveness of alternative sewage technologies than I would take the developer's word. As if on cue, Sally Harold, of the Nature Conservancy's Saugatuck Forest Lands Project (in the Saugatuck River watershed) sent me a link to a study, with lots of good recommendations, that the Nature Conservancy did on alternative sewage technology after a number of questionable developments were proposed for the watershed.

The paper is here and is worth reading.