CAPTURING PRACTITIONERS' INPUT WHEN WRITING ONSITE CODES
Kevin Michael Sherman · 2013
There is a wide disparity in the technical content of state onsite wastewater regulationsthroughout North America. Varying climate and soils justify some of the discrepancy, but neitherone is the prime reason that even codes from neighboring jurisdictions are so distinctly different.Regulators have a pressing need to capture the perspective of the field practitioner when writingcodes. Without it, regulations are passed that look good on paper but are functionallyunenforceable. Even worse, unwise regulations can create a system where only those who arewilling to ignore the regulations or intimidate local regulators from enforcing the codes canprofit in business. Regulations, to be effective, must be fair, logical, and easy to enforce.Several states have used a group of people from diverse backgrounds to review and makecomments on pending onsite regulations. The aim of this paper is to identify those states that areusing such groups and to determine, in a snapshot of time, the benefits and pitfalls of theapproach. Using the National Small Flows Clearinghouse regulations database, the most recentstate onsite wastewater codes have been reviewed and cataloged. The state regulators from thosestates using outside code reviewers were interviewed. The authors evaluation of the code andthe responses of the state regulators interviewed have been discussed.