Septic systems aren’t the only sources of pollution that can harm commercial shellfish beds and other marine life. Manure from farm animals and wildlife, and runoff from hard surfaces such as driveways, can also contribute. The main culprit is fecal coliform, a bacteria present in human and animal waste that can contaminate shellfish beds when the waste makes its way to tidal waters. That said, owners of rural properties served by septic systems have no cause for complaint about — nor are they being particularly singled out by — a Skagit County on-site program that requires inspection of septic systems every one to three years.
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The answer to the septic system problems is, wherever possible, to put these homes on a sanitary sewer system.  But the Growth Management Act, in its infinite wisdom, prohibits extending urban services to areas outside the various cities’ limits.  So, unless the city that owns the sewer system annexes the area in question, no sewers can be extended there.

The bottom line is that those geniuses who wrote the GMA have fixed it where septic systems, which by their very nature are marginal at best, are the preferred method for treating wastewater in unincorporated areas of the County.