By DAVE SCHULTZ
The members of the Wells County Health Board are concerned about a bill currently making its way through the Indiana General Assembly.
Ryan Bennett, environmental health specialist with the department, said HB 1245 would forbid counties to make any rules more stringent than current state minimums when siting septic systems. “It is taking away our local ordinances,” Bennett said. “We can only go by the bare minimum of what the state says.”
The problem, he said, is that soils are not the same all over state. Soils with high clay content, such as in northeast Indiana, require more room — and thus, greater costs — to build a septic system. Sometimes, he said, he recommends a system sized for a five-bedroom house when a three-bedroom house will be constructed.
If the local standards are voided, it is possible that at some point in the future, the system will be fail. Dr. Kay Johnson, the county’s health officer, put it this way: “If someone has sewage bubbling up, we can only tell them ‘sorry.””
Bennett noted that there are two installers in Wells County that will not downsize, and Johnson said she is concerned that the new regulations will have no protections for the consumer.
“The bare minimum can work,” Bennett said, “but there are places where it won’t.”
Lewis Brown, at the meeting to represent the Wells County Regional Sewer District, said he’s been told that an organization of home builders in Indiana are 100 percent in favor of the proposed legislation.
“It is a problem,” said Brown, who was in the business of installing septic systems for several years. “It is definitely a bad situation.”
The meeting was the first for Chris Esterling, who is an appointment from the county commissioners. Esterling replaces Jack Wenger, who was the chair of the board during 2021.
The board did not elect any officers. Doug Cale led Thursday’s meeting but declined to be named the permanent chair. Others present Thursday were Esterling, Dr. Steven Bales, Ann McNabb, and Mary Donley.
The election of officers was tabled until the group’s April meeting. The board meets every other month, but the February meeting was postponed last month until Thursday.
Bennett talked about attention being paid to a sewage issue at the Silo Farms trailer park north of Ossian. Sewage there is still an issue, he said, but since a drain has been opened up, it’s no longer in the residential area.
There are also issues on Willow Road and on 450E between 200N and 300N. Bennett is in the process of working with property owners there.
daves@news-banner.com
