By KAREN PARKER
County Line Publisher Emeritus
The old issue of septic fields and the Amish is back in play, as the Wisconsin’s legislature postponement of three-year inspections is about to end.
Allison Elliot, Monroe County Zoning Officer, said the process of identifying fields takes some time. The county looks over GPS maps and usually sends out about 3,000 letters alerting people they must file a maintenance report.
That number is whittled down to 700 for a second reminder letter and has dwindled even more before the matter is turned over to the corporate counsel, she said.
About 70 letters were recently sent, many to members of the Amish community, Elliot noted. The letter threatens further action, including a fine of $295, if the maintenance report is not completed. The county can impose the fine every day for the time the form is not completed.
Although some interpret this to mean the Amish are required to install septic fields, Elliot said this is not the case. The county can and does accept privy systems as a substitute. There are no state laws regarding those, although once the vaults are filled, they would need to be pumped. Their location also must comply with DNR rules.
Elliot said she has not heard objections for religious reasons, which is the case in Minnesota, where numerous Amish families have gone to court in resistance to Minnesota’s septic-field laws. In most cases, they are part of a building-permit process, which also has been met with resistance.
Vernon County
Susan Burkhamer of Vernon County Zoning said her department also had sent thousands of letters, but had not yet made any referrals to Vernon County corporate counsel.
Vernon County has the largest Amish population in the state, and the mostly old-order Amish are resistant to complying with wastewater rules.
Some have told her they run graywater from the house, but use a bucket for bathroom duties and then spread it on the ground. Spreading waste, Burkhamer said, would fall under the DNR’s purview.
Burkhamer said a religious exemption for wastewater expired in April, and now any home with water must comply with the wastewater rules.
Burkhamer said she also gets resistance from the English on compliance. “The Amish don’t have to do this — why should I?”
She said she would ask more questions of anyone claiming to use a privy and would also put that privy on a list to be pumped and inspected every three years, as are septic fields.
If all this seems confusing, it is. Burkhamer agreed the state has offered very little guidance in how to manage private septic fields beyond the three-year inspection mandate. And as is often the case, mandates come from the legislature without any money to enforce them.