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 onsite inspections. But according to a recent story in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, neighbors to the Amish have fought and won cases to require inspections and repairs of septic systems built by the Amish.

Now Indiana legislators are getting involved, arguing on both sides of the controversy.

Does your pumping company work in areas where Amish property owners want to build and maintain their own septic systems? Have you been asked to pump the tanks of makeshift systems and found them failing? If so, I wonder if you are concerned about system shortcomings you’ve seen or potential groundwater pollution issues. Let’s start a conversation.

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