Religious thank you graphic1/13/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() If dumping gray water is occasional - like washing a car or wastewater by hunters and anglers - it poses very little risk, experts said. The lower courts also found that while mulch basins may work in other states, the topography of Fillmore County - including fissures, fractures and sinkholes in the area’s limestone bedrock - lends to more rapid travel of wastewater to ground and surface water than in other places. But the courts also found that septic systems - not mulch basins - would be the least-restrictive means for the Amish families to meet the government’s interest in protecting public health and the environment. State courts acknowledged that the requirement for septic tanks systems burdened the Amish community’s religious beliefs. State officials presented testimony from an expert in court that said the mulch basins would not be as effective and that the mulch would quickly clog with solids and grease, requiring frequent relocating of new mulch pits. They also offered an alternative used in more than a dozen other states that would allow them to funnel gray water from their homes by pipes to earthen basins filled with wood chips to filter solids and grease from the water as it drains, similar to how a septic system would work.īut the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency refused, and filed an administrative enforcement action against 23 Amish families in Fillmore County, threatening criminal penalties, civil fines and even to force them from their homes if they didn’t comply. The Amish community sought an exemption “in the name of our Lord,” explaining that their religion forbids the use of such technology. In 2013, Fillmore County adopted an ordinance requiring most homes to have a septic system for the disposal of gray water. Water arrives through a single line and is either pumped by hand or delivered by gravity from an external cistern. The Swartzentruber Amish do not have modern running water in their homes. It’s essentially about plumbing - specifically, the disposal of gray water. Here’s a look at the legal dispute and the traditionalist religious community at the root of it. The Supreme Court ruling said governments can infringe on sincerely held religious beliefs only as a last resort and sent the case back to Minnesota, where the appellate panel ruled that state and local officials “failed to demonstrate a compelling state interest” to justify overriding the Amish families’ religious freedom. Supreme Court reversed court rulings that had required the group to install septic tanks. The state Court of Appeals on Monday found that members of the Swartzentruber Amish community in southeastern Minnesota don’t need to install septic systems to dispose of “gray water,” which is dirty water left from dishwashing, laundry, bathing, and other tasks not involving toilet waste. A long-running religious freedom case has come full circle, with a court ruling this week that a deeply conservative Amish community in Minnesota cannot be threatened with the loss of homes if its members don’t install septic systems to dispose of their bath, laundry and dish water. ![]()
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