Socio-Technical Barriers To Successful Responsible Management Entities of Decentralized Clustered Wastewater Systems in The Rural Alabama's Black Belt

INTRODUCTION
Over the past few decades, the Black Belt region of Alabama has been struggling from a lack of access to wastewater management (1–4). In addition to the region being characterized by low-population density, rural poverty, and lack of economic development, the geological conditions have further exacerbated the wastewater crisis in these underserved communities (1,4–6). The shrink-swell clays (vertisols), the most common surface soils, become practically impermeable when wet; this soil condition prevents infiltration of effluent and consequently causes hydraulic failure in conventional septic systems (e.g., septic tank drainfield) (4). In Bibb County, for instance, a field survey of 4,000 unsewered homes found that around 50% of which had raw sewage on the ground surface due to the hydraulic failure of their septic systems, as well as the use of 'straight pipes' for a direct raw sewage discharge (3). Such unacceptable sanitation conditions have drawn both national and international attention (2,6,7) and spurred research efforts to explore alternative wastewater treatment technologies that can address wastewater issues in the Black Belt's communities (4).
Research Problem
Given widespread poverty as well as low-population density leading to a limited number of rate payers (3), advanced onsite wastewater treatment systems are not financially feasible in this rural region. Ongoing research efforts (4,8) are instead investigating effluent sewer and treatment clusters (e.g., 20 – 200 homes) suitable for connection to a potential decentralized wastewater system. While decentralized clustered wastewater systems are promising solutions to the ongoing wastewater challenges in the Black Belt communities, how to best manage these small systems is largely unknown. If improperly managed, decentralized systems do not provide the level of treatment necessary to adequately protect public health and water quality (9). Providing proper operation and maintenance (O&M) services to these systems is thus important to ensure their performance and reliability, as well as achieve their long-term sustainability (10). As such, establishing a responsible management entity (RME) that conducts the O&M can provide greater assurance of control over the performance of these decentralized systems (9–11). An RME is defined as a legal organization with the technical, managerial, and financial capacity to operate and maintain viable decentralized wastewater systems within the RME's jurisdiction (11). A single RME can handle multiple individual onsite systems and clustered systems-referred to as centralized management-and often seek to maximize the number of dwellings served to maintain its financial sustainability (11). Given that the Black Belt is mostly a rural region with small spread-out residential clusters (3), it may be more financially viable to assign an existing RME to manage the many proposed decentralized wastewater systems in this region. As a prerequisite to identifying adequate RMEs, though, we need to better understand possible socio-technical barriers-spanning the technical, financial, regulatory/institutional, social, and environmental dimensions-that may hinder RMEs' operations in the Black Belt communities. Uncovering such barriers would potentially allow for the generation of practical planning recommendations on how to best overcome these barriers, thereby enabling more successful RMEs' models.
Research Objectives
This study seeks to empirically understand socio-technical barriers that may be faced by potential RMEs of the Black Belt's decentralized wastewater systems. To do so, the objective of this study is two-fold. First, the study identifies major socio-technical barriers that may influence RMEs' willingness to manage decentralized systems by exploring literature related to decentralized wastewater management models. Second, the study 1) explores which of these identified barriers are the most critical for the case of Alabama's Black Belt; and, accordingly, 2) provides practical and policy recommendations that could best overcome these barriers.
MATERIAL AND METHODS Survey Questionnaire and Data Collection
A survey questionnaire was provided to various public and private rural management entities, including water utilities, sewer utilities, natural gas utilities, electric utilities, electric cooperatives, solid waste management, and community development corporations. The survey included questions about the participants' demographics and experience in their respective organizations, entity type and structure (e.g., public service provider, private agencies), type of service provided (e.g., water, sewer, electricity), and a set of major barriers to effective decentralized wastewater management spanning the technical, financial, regulatory/institutional, and social dimensions. Additionally, participants were asked to rate the importance of these barriers based on a 5-point Likert scale (very important, important, neutral, somewhat important, not important). Data collection is ongoing and expected to continue until February 2022.
Analysis Methods. Descriptive statistics and statistical inferencing are used to explore the ranking of the socio-technical barriers and determine the most critical barriers to the various RMEs.
RESULTS AND PATH FORWARD
To identify the various socio-technical barriers, we turned to literature related to decentralized wastewater management models (see Table 1). Preliminary results show that the financial and regulatory/institutional barriers are the most critical issues that the targeted RMEs' are concerned about. The 'not paying for O&M services' and 'difficulty to obtain funds' are highly rated by the respondents. Given the widespread poverty in the Black Belt, communities likely do not have the financial capacity to pay for the O&M services, which would impact the RME's long-term financial sustainability. As such, to further support the urgent need for decentralized wastewater management in rural, underserved communities, federal and state policy needs to address gaps in these systems' funding. For instance, more funds should be prioritized for the O&M of these systems, thereby enabling RMEs to ensure continuous system operations and reliability. Respondents also indicate the 'inflexible regulatory codes' as another highly rated challenge for managing the proposed small, decentralized clustered wastewater systems in the Black Belt. Surface discharge of treated effluent from onsite wastewater treatment system is still not permitted under current Alabama's regulations. Notably, efforts are ongoing to update such regulations in regard to surface discharge (8). In spite of these efforts, respondents may be concerned about RMEs' ability to obtain operating permits for these non-conventional decentralized systems, especially that the approval of new systems and regulations often involves a lengthy process (12). Alabama's regulators are, therefore, encouraged to expedite the new regulations regarding surface discharge of treated effluent. These considerations would facilitate the attainment of the required permits and enable the RMEs to provide adequate O&M services for the Black Belt's communities.
IMPLICATIONS
The study advances existing knowledge through providing an empirical understanding to socio-technical barriers that may inhibit RMEs from effectively managing the Black Belt's alternative wastewater treatment solutions-existing limitation in literature. Building off of this understanding, the study also contributes to practice by providing practical and policy recommendations that could best overcome the identified barriers. Accordingly, RMEs would be better enabled to provide adequate O&M services and consequently contribute to addressing the wastewater challenges in these underserved communities.