The Sumner County Board of Construction Appeals voted on Nov. 19 to overrule the building code director and allow a property owner to use hauled water taken from a fire hydrant as the water source for a new home, the board said during deliberations.

Mark, the county building-code representative, told the board staff had withheld approving a permanent building permit because "plumbing code 2602Dash1 says the water distribution system of any building or premises where plumbing fixtures are installed shall be connected to a public water supply." He said that where a public water supply is not available, "an individual water supply shall be provided" and that well construction is governed by state rules referenced in the application materials.

The applicant, referred to in the record as Mr. Ferb, told the board he had relied on hauling water from a hydrant for years after wells on his property went dry. "That's how I've been getting my water since I've been out there," he said. He described a setup with a mobile meter at the hydrant and a roughly 1,500-gallon tank on his property that he pumps to the house and said the arrangement sustained the house for "two, sometimes three months." He also said the local water utility had approved the connection at the hydrant in a board meeting.

Board members pressed staff on technical and liability issues, including whether a backflow device or meter already exists at the hydrant and who would bear risk if contaminants reached the county system. Mark told the board the utility district had provided a letter and that water-quality and backflow enforcement are matters for the local utility; he also said Sumner County has no separate local well-construction rules and typically relies on state permitting and a licensed driller's well report to document flow when a private well is used.

In deliberations the board considered the standards in the appeals guideline "R112.2," which staff read to the board and described as allowing relief where the code's literal application is infeasible or an equally good method is proposed. Members said the applicant's inability to connect to public water and the long history of the practice on the property supported a finding of hardship. The chair moved to overrule the building code director's decision under R112.2(b) and allow the use described in the application; members voiced unanimous assent by saying "Aye." The meeting record shows the board asked staff to prepare exact motion language on the application form and for members to sign the documentation.

The board's action does not include detailed vote tallies in the transcript and staff said they would incorporate the board's wording when preparing the permit paperwork. The board then moved on to other business, where Marshall Wright gave a brief update that the health and safety committee has been working on upgrades and that Legislative Committee chair Mark Harrison "wants to put it on the December agenda." The meeting adjourned after a motion and second.

The board's ruling allows the applicant to proceed once staff completes the written motion language and the permit is finalized; the transcript does not record any follow-up conditions or formal inspections tied to the ruling beyond the need for signed paperwork and the utility's prior approval.