lostntexas
Junior Member
The Lone Star State of Texas.
Texas Commission On Environmental Quality requires all owners of an on-site aerobic septic system to purchase a maintenance contract from a licensed maintenance provider.
From TCEQ web site;
What should the contract specify?
The maintenance contract shall specify the following:
List items that are covered by the contract;
Specify a time frame in which the maintenance provider will visit the property in response to a complaint by the property owner regarding the operation of the system;
Specify the name of the individual employed by the maintenance company who will be performing the maintenance on your system;
Identify the frequency of routine maintenance and the frequency of the required testing and reporting; and
Identify who is responsible for maintaining the disinfection unit.
My contract approved by TCEQ consist of 3 visit’s a year by the professional maintenance provider. He fills out a “Testing and Reporting Record” . The record list the date, property address and permit number and signature of person performing inspection.
Directly below that is a list of 9 items to be inspected aerator, disinfectant device, irrigation pump and so on. The maintenance is required to check off on each item, operational or inoperative. Note any repairs made or any components replaced.
Next the maintenance provider is required to text an affluent discharge sample for residual chlorine and enter the test results on the report. Then he is ask if he had responded to any owner complaints over the reporting period and last any comments or recommendations he had.
No maintenance is required or performed under the terms of the contract other than “replenishing the chlorine tablets in the disinfection unit" and replenishing the chlorine tablets are done by the homeowner. Checking off operational or inoperative does not constitute maintenance and falls under the category of inspection.
From TCEQ web site.
Two years after the initial installation of your aerobic treatment unit, maintenance can be performed by homeowners for systems that use secondary treatment systems, non-standard treatment systems, drip irrigation, and surface application disposal.
Note: Some permitting authorities have adopted more stringent requirements, which may require homeowner training or even a prohibition against homeowner maintenance.
I live within the enforcement jurisdiction of the Trinity River Authority and they do not allow the homeowner to maintain his own equipment. I am now in violation of their order R-1048-1 a Class C misdemeanor. I plan to challenge this regulation in court due to the fact that the only requirements of the contract or testing and reporting.
The only maintenance mentioned in the contract is maintaining the chlorinator. “replenishing the chlorine tablets as they dissolve away” the person listed in the contract responsible for maintaining the chlorinator is the homeowner.
The regulation prohibits homeowner maintenance yet the contract makes the homeowner responsible for maintaining the cholrinator.
Compliance with the regulation by buying the contract, obligates the homeowner to violate the regulation by maintaining the chlorinator.
It’s a technicality but what do you think of this defense?
A class C misdemeanor will be decided by a J.P.
Do you think he will be able to come down on my side or will I have to appeal this to a higher court?
Texas Commission On Environmental Quality requires all owners of an on-site aerobic septic system to purchase a maintenance contract from a licensed maintenance provider.
From TCEQ web site;
What should the contract specify?
The maintenance contract shall specify the following:
List items that are covered by the contract;
Specify a time frame in which the maintenance provider will visit the property in response to a complaint by the property owner regarding the operation of the system;
Specify the name of the individual employed by the maintenance company who will be performing the maintenance on your system;
Identify the frequency of routine maintenance and the frequency of the required testing and reporting; and
Identify who is responsible for maintaining the disinfection unit.
My contract approved by TCEQ consist of 3 visit’s a year by the professional maintenance provider. He fills out a “Testing and Reporting Record” . The record list the date, property address and permit number and signature of person performing inspection.
Directly below that is a list of 9 items to be inspected aerator, disinfectant device, irrigation pump and so on. The maintenance is required to check off on each item, operational or inoperative. Note any repairs made or any components replaced.
Next the maintenance provider is required to text an affluent discharge sample for residual chlorine and enter the test results on the report. Then he is ask if he had responded to any owner complaints over the reporting period and last any comments or recommendations he had.
No maintenance is required or performed under the terms of the contract other than “replenishing the chlorine tablets in the disinfection unit" and replenishing the chlorine tablets are done by the homeowner. Checking off operational or inoperative does not constitute maintenance and falls under the category of inspection.
From TCEQ web site.
Two years after the initial installation of your aerobic treatment unit, maintenance can be performed by homeowners for systems that use secondary treatment systems, non-standard treatment systems, drip irrigation, and surface application disposal.
Note: Some permitting authorities have adopted more stringent requirements, which may require homeowner training or even a prohibition against homeowner maintenance.
I live within the enforcement jurisdiction of the Trinity River Authority and they do not allow the homeowner to maintain his own equipment. I am now in violation of their order R-1048-1 a Class C misdemeanor. I plan to challenge this regulation in court due to the fact that the only requirements of the contract or testing and reporting.
The only maintenance mentioned in the contract is maintaining the chlorinator. “replenishing the chlorine tablets as they dissolve away” the person listed in the contract responsible for maintaining the chlorinator is the homeowner.
The regulation prohibits homeowner maintenance yet the contract makes the homeowner responsible for maintaining the cholrinator.
Compliance with the regulation by buying the contract, obligates the homeowner to violate the regulation by maintaining the chlorinator.
It’s a technicality but what do you think of this defense?
A class C misdemeanor will be decided by a J.P.
Do you think he will be able to come down on my side or will I have to appeal this to a higher court?
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