Regional Codes Have Merit

To the Editor:

I have held a Minnesota license for design, installation, soil testing, and inspection for many years, and I worked through the Minnesota Onsite Treatment Contractors Association for a standard Minnesota code before our 7080 code was adopted. I also hold an AAS degree in building inspection for the State of Minnesota.

I also live near the border of Wisconsin, where I do not work because of the needed plumbing license to install septic systems there. Now, with the uniform Minnesota code, I have designed systems in several counties and municipalities without needing a license from each agency. There are still holdouts where they require an excavator’s license for digging in their city, or where there is some other barrier that can be overcome for a fee.

Yes, it would be nice to have a regional code (“Why so many differences?”, Onsite Installer, August 2009) to be able to meet standards within a geographic area. I look at the building codes and how they have been adopted. This has taken a lot of work, and there has been opposition from many trade groups, politicians, and states to append or modify the ICC codes.

I participated in administrative law hearings on the adoption of the fuel gas codes for the State of Minnesota, where the trade groups within the Minneapolis and St. Paul plumbers and fitters unions were opposed to changes, as they said they would have to re-educate their full memberships to a new code. There seems to be many holdouts on uniformity.

I have also worked on a Washington County code they adopted when Minnesota 7080 code first was adopted. Input from the people who work in the field sometimes is discounted in favor of the engineers’ ideas of a perfect solution. This can be in requirements for the type of tank, the drainfield material, or other parts of the system.

I designed a system for a person in Wisconsin using an at-grade design instead of a mound. The answer from his local permitting authority was, “Yes it will work, and we would give a permit, but no one will install it.” Why not? Not enough profit, and different from their competitors. So the homeowner pays, and wonders why states differ in cost.

I have also designed replacement systems where another designer came up with mounds or special treatment systems for what they called problem areas, when in reality, solutions could be found by using a different location, moving the house plan on the lot, or using an at-grade or shallow-trench system instead.

To become a valued industry where consumers both value and trust us, we need to put more effort into image and into regional rules. Look at the Operating Engineers and the certifications they have for cranes. Or look at electricians working under the National Electrical Code.

As the Uniform Building Code is now accepted in most states, and since there are also other uniform codes, it is time for the onsite industry to adopt a larger format than just local codes.

Consumers and citizens have been sold the idea that the answer to all disposal problems is the Big Pipe. The idea of recycling wastewater seems to be lost. If groundwater from one region is used and sent down the big pipe to a river or out of the area, that it is not replaced easily.

Wells, septic systems, and other such rural or urban uses for the water we all depend on create a continuous cycle that needs a long look. The regional code concept is an idea that needs more than just exploration by a small group.

Orin Koeckeritz

Afton, Minn.



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