A battle has been brewing for some time in Indiana over whether communities of Amish people can build their own septic systems without seeking health department permits required of other rural homeowners. They argue their religious beliefs protect them from government involvement in their lives, while a group of non-Amish homeowners says homemade septic systems could be leading to pollution that damages the well-water supply.
Historically, a “log-cabin rule’’ has held that property owners can build homes in unincorporated rural areas without permits, and that the Amish around Fort Wayne, Ind., say that rule extends to health and sanitation requirements and
