In many cases, soils covering drainfields were washed away, leaving these systems exposed and unable to function. In other cases, the storm eroded away land used for drainfields, leaving homeowners with systems which could no longer meet regulatory codes. The storm also worsened problems for coastal homeowners who already had small lots, since it eroded and further reduced the amount of land available for drainfields. In some cases, homeowners in this circumstance ound they did not have enough land remaining for a properly functioning drainfield. As a result of the erosion, some beachfront homeowners found that their structures, which may have been legally sited before Frances, were now on official beach easements and may have to be moved or removed.
State regulations prohibit structures and on-site wastewater systems within the beach easement.
If beachfront homes were located too close to the shore after erosion damage from the storm, they could be required to move their on-site system away from the beach so that it would not be in the beach easement. In this case, the storm sat in the Gulf of Mexico a few days, created a lot of waves, and caused significant amounts of beach erosion. Some of the areas that were hardest hit include Bermuda Beach, which is on Galveston Island, and Surfside, located in Brazoria County. In Surfside, as many as 50 homes suffered damage to on-site systems and many of these still cannot meet regulatory code requirements. On the Bolivar Peninsula, a few homes and on-site systems were crippled but they didn't suffer as much beach and dune erosion.