New state legislation has allowed for exemptions for homeowners wanting to stay on their septic systems in areas where sewer districts are being built.
That criteria, which, if met, would allow residents to stay with their current septic systems for up to 20 years, was combed through at Wednesday’ Kosciusko County Board of Health meeting.
The state would allow a resident to stay on his or her septic system for 10 years and then they could apply twice more, every five years, to stay on septic.
The county’s health department approved the criteria a home would need to meet, with some changes, at Wednesday night’s meeting.
The policy states that a properly functioning septic system must, at a minimum, meet the following guidelines to qualify for an exemption:
– Septic system must be 10 or less years in age.
– Septic system sized appropriately to Indiana Department of Health current rules.
– Septic system must be located a minimum of 50 feet from any water well, lake, river or stream.
– A septic permit issued by the Kosciusko County Health Department must be on record for the septic system installation and the system must have been inspected at the time of construction by the health department.
– Septic system has to be functioning properly with no evidence of sewage above ground or in water.
The board also added that a final inspection during daily working hours is required and that any applicable fees may apply.
The health officer’s decision will be considered final and only subject to appeal before the Kosciusko County Board of Health.
The Lakeland Regional Sewer District will be the first local sewer district to find out how this new legislation will work.
The LRSD sent out letters to 2,000 residents in its area to inform them of the legislative changes.
Kosciusko County Health Department Deputy Administrator Neal Brown said the health department has already received a huge stack of responses.
He did note, however, that many can be eliminated because they don’t meet the criteria.
Board member Larry Coplen asked what would happen if the state decided to change septic rules down the road.
“That would go against current codes,” said Coplen.
Coplen pointed out the state is looking at considering that when a home adds multiple shower heads it counts toward the number of bedrooms the home has.
Instead of going by a home’s number of bedrooms, the county health department instead decided to word the policy so homes have to meet current state standards.
The board also discussed what sort of fee the health department would charge once they have to do final inspections.
The decision was to not put a cost on it but that some fee would be needed as health department employees would have to make in-home visits.
Brown said he was hoping the criteria was set up as such that many of the applicants wouldn’t make it to the final inspection.
It was asked of Brown and County Health Administrator Bob Weaver whether they should go to the Kosciusko County Commissioners to adopt a fee ordinance.
Brown said they haven’t had luck in the past when going to the county on adding any sort of fees.
“I can not fathom not charging anything,” said Coplen. “Maybe we need to exert some political pressure on our county officials.”
County Health Officer Dr. William Remington also publicly questioned how this would affect sewer districts.
“I wonder how you’re going to fund these sewer projects if you have all these exemptions,” said Remington.
