COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 624
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Snyder)
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[Originating in the Committee on Natural Resources;
reported March 2, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend article one, chapter sixteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new section, designated section nine-b,
relating to permit approval by the commissioner of the
bureau for public health for individual sewage systems with
surface water discharge; consideration for approval under
certain conditions; reserve-area requirements; and defining
standard soil absorption system.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter sixteen of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section nine- b, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. DIVISION OF HEALTH.
§16-1-9b. Permit approval for individual systems with surface water discharge; reserve areas.
(a) Individual systems with surface water discharge may be
considered for approval for a permit pursuant to section nine of
this article in the following circumstances: (1) For correction
of existing failures when other means of treatment and disposal
have proven ineffective; (2) for a tract, lot or parcel of land
that equals or exceeds two acres which cannot qualify for
standard soil absorption systems or alternative soil absorption
systems; or (3) for existing lots which received approval under
a prior permit where it has since been determined that applicable
standards cannot be met to qualify the lot for a standard soil
absorption system or alternate soil absorption system. "Standard
soil absorption system" means a system designed to receive
effluent from a septic tank to be disposed of at soil depths
ranging from eighteen to thirty-six inches from the original
ground surface.
(b) When installing a standard sewage disposal system,
modified system, experimental system or other approved system,
the reserve area shall consist of an area for the placement of the original system together with an area for replacement or
upgrade of drain fill line for future needs. Testing of the site
for approval shall consist of a six foot hole and a perk test of
the soils. In order to protect the groundwater, slip trenching
across reserve areas to rock ledges is prohibited.
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(NOTE: This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)