AP explains court ruling siding with Amish families who balked at Minnesota septic tank rules

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A long-running religious freedom case is complete, as a court ruled this week that Minnesota’s deeply conservative Amish community could not be threatened with losing homes if its members did not install septic systems to dispose of their bathroom, laundry and dish water.

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A state appeals court found on Monday that the Swartzentruber Amish community in southeastern Minnesota does not need to install septic systems to get rid of “grey water,” the dirty water left over from dishwashing, laundry, showering, and other tasks that don’t involve using the toilet. . lose. Two years ago, the US Supreme Court overturned court rulings requiring the group to install septic tanks.

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Here’s a look at the legal dispute and the traditional religious community at its roots.

Who are the Swartzentruber Amish?

The Amish are a Christian religious group that, based on their religious beliefs, shun many modern technologies such as electric and gas powered machines. Members can most likely be identified by their use of horse and buggy transport. There are more than 360,000 Amish in the United States, and the Amish population was in at least 32 states as of 2022, concentrated in the Midwest and East Coast states.

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The Swartzentruber Amish is among the most restrictive in terms of technology use and eschews everything from tractors and refrigeration to phones and restrooms.

What is the difference?

It’s mainly about plumbing—specifically, getting rid of gray water. The Swartzentruber Amish family has no modern running water in their home. Water arrives via a single line and is manually pumped or transferred by gravity from an external cistern.

In 2013, Fillmore County passed a law that requires most homes to have a septic system to get rid of gray water. The Amish community sought dispensation “in the name of our Lord,” explaining that their religion forbids the use of such technology. They also introduced an alternative used in more than a dozen other states that would allow them to pipe gray water from their homes into earthen ponds filled with wood chips to filter solids and grease from the water as it drains, similar to the sewer method. The system will work.

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But the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency refused, and filed an administrative executive suit against 23 Amish families in Fillmore County, threatening criminal penalties, civil fines and even forcing them to leave their homes if they did not comply. State officials filed expert testimony in court that said mulch pans would not be effective and that the mulch would quickly become clogged with solids and grease, requiring frequent relocation of the pits for new bedding.

State courts have recognized that the requirement of septic tank systems burdened the religious beliefs of the Amish community. But courts have also found that septic systems — not mulch pans — would be the least restrictive means for Amish families to meet the government’s interest in protecting public health and the environment.

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The case reached the US Supreme Court in 2021, which found that Minnesota courts had overridden it. She said the onus is on the government to prove that mulch pans won’t work, not on the Amish to prove that they will. He returned the case to the Minnesota courts for re-examination. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that “If the government can advance its interests in a way that does not burden the debt, then it should do so.”

Is gray water really a problem?

Gray water is more dangerous to public health than it might seem.

Heger, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, acknowledged that gray water is less dangerous than toilet waste, or “black water.” But gray water carries pollutants such as human feces, harmful bacteria and viruses, and a variety of commercial chemicals, soaps, and cleaners that contain nitrogen and phosphorus that cause environmental problems.

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“Whatever might make you sick is also in gray water,” she said.

The lower courts also found that while mulch ponds may operate in other states, the topography of Fillmore County—including cracks, fractures, and craters in the area’s limestone rocks—facilitates more rapid movement of wastewater into ground and surface water than in other places.

Experts said that if the gray water dumping is accidental — like car washes or sewage by fishermen and fishermen — it doesn’t pose a significant risk. But large families produce a lot of wastewater where they live, said Brandon Montgomery, MD, with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The families’ attorney, Brian Lipford, has argued that it doesn’t make sense for the state to target his clients over gray water disposal when it allows them to use outhouses – where residents relieve themselves in a hole dug in the ground.

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But state officials said there are already regulations in place governing outhouses that require them to be a certain distance from wells and other water sources. Adding water to the waste water, they argued, would spread the pollutants much further.

Is there a next step in the court battle?

Fillmore County District Attorney Brett Corson hopes to decide in the coming days whether to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. He has 30 days from Monday to make a decision.

“We’re just taking the opportunity to digest the decision and consider what we’re going to do,” he said.

Officials from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they would appeal.

Corson said he understands the issue is important to both the county and the Amish.

“In a county like ours,” he said, “the Amish community make up a huge part of ours.” They are our neighbors and friends. We work together. It’s one of those things that we have to make a firm decision about.”

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