Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I must take strong exception to Sherry Hamilton’s piece in the March 14 issue of the Gazette-Journal ("County, Hodges at loggerheads over sanitary system legislation") regarding sanitary system legislation for Gloucester County. She opens with the bold assertion that, "Gloucester County needs to extend its sanitary sewer system …" Who says? Ms. Hamilton backs her assertion by stating that Gloucester has failing septic systems and people who want to solve the problem. Really?

Last year I was a member of a citizen working group, sponsored by the Virginia DEQ and DCR, to analyze the bacterial pollution sources to the Piankatank watershed and make recommendations for their mitigation. As part of that effort, I interviewed the Gloucester Environmental Health Department Supervisor and specifically asked the extent of septic system failure in Gloucester County.

I learned that out of approximately 5,000 systems in the county, at the beginning of 20...