I recently acquired a mobile home park on septic with one tank per home. The permit allows 1500 gallons per tank. The problem is that there are as many as 8 people per home. There is also a problem of subleasing in the park so it is difficult to get a handle on how many people are living there. Any tips on regulating septic usage? We are planning to submeter to get a handle on water consumption and then perhaps billing back sewer using the same ratio the county uses for sewer.
I would recommend measuring on the front end, and not measuring on the back end. Pun intended. All of the information you need for septic usage will be gathered if you submeter the water. A 1500-gallon tank certainly large enough for a single home, even with 8 people.
Typically, the standards recommend 100 gallons per person per day, or assuming 2.5-3.3 people per home, around 300 gallons per home per day. I think that is a little conservative but a good place to start.
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Long term you regulate septic use through your community rules. Community rules are you best tool.
You would, over a period of time, limit the occupancy per home and put a end to sub leasing if your landlord tenant codes allow for restrictions. If it is a family community you could for example limit occupancy to a maximum 4 people per home.
For now your building codes may limit occupancy based on number of bedrooms. This might allow you to immediatly reduce the number of occupants in some homes.
By making the bill back on water and septic high enough it will also discourage over occupancy.