SD25 - The Laws of the Commonwealth Related to Sewage Handling as these Laws Interact with the Board of Health's Sewage Handling and Disposal Regulations

  • Published: 1986
  • Author: General Assembly. Joint Subcommittee
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 127 (Regular Session, 1985)

Executive Summary:
In recent years, the members of the General Assembly have been besieged by citizens, builders, developers, local government officials and sewage handling and disposal contractors with problems related to the laws and regulations controlling onsite sewage systems and the disposal of sewage. During the 1985 Session, Senator Madison E. Marye introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. 121, which was approved, establishing a joint subcommittee to study the laws of the Commonwealth related to sewage handling as these laws interact with the Board of Health's Sewage Handling and Disposal Regulations. Pursuant to this resolution, a seven-member committee consisting of two members of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and one member of the Senate at-large and four members of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions was formed.

Senate Joint Resolution No. 127 directed the Joint Subcommittee to consider the following issues:

1. What the policy of the Commonwealth should be in relation to handling and disposal of sewage, including the disposal of septage and the issuance of septic tank permits;

2. How the public can be informed concerning the permitting of septic tanks and about the need for caution in purchasing real property in areas without central sewage disposal systems;

3. How communications between developers or builders and the local and central health department officials can be facilitated; and

4. Whether there is any substance to the complaints about the denials of septic tank permits or are these complaints merely the natural reaction on the part of citizens who have not received complete disclosure on purchasing property.

The Joint Subcommittee was directed to complete its work in time to report its findings to the 1986 Session of the General Assembly.