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House bill would let DEQ streamline septic approvals where groundwater is absent
Summary
Rep. Lou Jones proposed HB 923 to let the Department of Environmental Quality craft a streamlined review for on-site septic systems in Montana areas with no usable groundwater, aiming to cut cost and delay while preserving nondegradation protections, DEQ witnesses said.
Representative Lou Jones, sponsor of House Bill 923, told the House Natural Resources Committee the bill would let state regulators tailor septic-system review in areas where geology makes usable groundwater effectively absent. “This is a pretty straightforward bill,” Jones said, describing constituents who haul water to cisterns or pipe it long distances because wells in parts of eastern counties don’t yield potable water.
Jones said the amendment circulating with the bill would direct DEQ’s Division of Air Quality and the agency’s water-quality…
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