Funding your septic fix

In communities across Washington state, a failing septic system can trigger a cascade of impossible choices: endure water restrictions that make daily life unbearable, drain life savings for a $30,000+ repair, or risk public health violations. For the third of Washington households who rely on septic systems—disproportionately rural families, communities of color, and low-income homeowners—this crisis exposes a fundamental inequity in how we fund essential infrastructure. While urban neighbors enjoy publicly subsidized sewer systems with predictable monthly bills, septic-dependent families shoulder the full burden of wastewater treatment alone. Since 2016, Craft3's partnership with the Washington State Department of Ecology has challenged this disparity head-on, transforming how communities access clean water infrastructure through affordable loans, grants, and wraparound support that treats environmental health as a shared responsibility, not an individual burden.

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Read more on the Washington State Department of Ecology's blog.