Areas Without Sewers

1. Info Water:

WaterNews: Infographic: America’s Septic Systems

The portion of homes in each state that use septic systems. Darker colors indicate a higher percentage. Vermont tops the chart, with 55 percent of homes on septic. The data is from 1990, which is the most recent state-level septic system assessment. The U.S. Census Bureau, which collected the data, stopped doing so for states and counties after 1990 because no federal agency regulates septic systems. A national estimate, from a much smaller sample size, is completed every two years as part of the American Housing Survey.

2. EPA: Septic System Fact Sheet

Septic system fact sheet from the EPA dated from 2007. Shows demographics of septic system usage such as total housing units served by septic systems compared to centralized/clustered systems, total housing units served by septic systems from 1985-2007, and occupied housing units served by septic system according to US region. In 2007, an estimated 20% (26.1 million) of total US housing units were served by septic systems. Of these housing units, 50% (13.1 million) were in rural areas, 47% (12.3) million were in suburbs, while 3% (774,000) were found in central cities.

Methodology: This information was found by searching the keywords “housing census sewage” in Google.