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CAPTURING PRACTITIONERS’ INPUT WHEN WRITING ONSITE CODES

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  701P0104,  . (doi: 10.13031/2013.15828)
Authors:   Kevin M. Sherman
Keywords:   Regulations, Onsite wastewater, Practitioner input, Septic systems

There is a wide disparity in the technical content of state onsite wastewater regulations throughout North America. Varying climate and soils justify some of the discrepancy, but neither one is the prime reason that even codes from neighboring jurisdictions are so distinctly different. Regulators have a pressing need to capture the perspective of the field practitioner when writing codes. Without it, regulations are passed that look good on paper but are functionally unenforceable. Even worse, unwise regulations can create a system where only those who are willing to ignore the regulations or intimidate local regulators from enforcing the codes can profit in business. Regulations, to be effective, must be fair, logical, and easy to enforce. Several states have used a group of people from diverse backgrounds to review and make comments on pending onsite regulations. The aim of this paper is to identify those states that are using such groups and to determine, in a snapshot of time, the benefits and pitfalls of the approach. Using the National Small Flows Clearinghouse regulations database, the most recent state onsite wastewater codes have been reviewed and cataloged. The state regulators from those states using outside code reviewers were interviewed. The authors evaluation of the code and the responses of the state regulators interviewed have been discussed.

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