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Dolores County commissioners send proposed Regulation 43 septic rules to state for review; formal adoption to follow
Summary
At a March 2 meeting, Dolores County commissioners moved the state'proposed Regulation 43 on onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) to the Board of Health and authorized county staff to submit the county'proposed adoption language to the state for review; formal adoption will be set for a public hearing pending state feedback.
The Dolores County Board of County Commissioners voted March 2 to send the county'proposed adoption of Regulation 43, dealing with onsite wastewater treatment systems (septic systems), to the state for review and to move the formal adoption to the Board of Health for a public hearing.
The Chair opened the meeting and approved routine business, including the agenda, expenditures and minutes for Feb. 2, 9, 17 and 23, 2026, by voice vote. Afterward, the board closed the county commissioners meeting and opened a Board of Health session to address Regulation 43.
A staff member summarized the state'level process for Regulation 43, saying the state revises the regulation approximately every four years and that the proposed revisions "really didn't impact us much at all." The staff member said Dolores County typically adopts the state regulation in full and then indicates local checkbox options (for example, allowance of privies) and asked the board to authorize submitting the county's version to the state for review. "So what we do is we adopt Regulation 43 in its entirety," the staff member said, "and then we have these checkbox options." The staff member asked the board to "go ahead and send those up to the state" so the state can review the county's proposed adoption language before the county schedules a public hearing for final adoption.
A commissioner moved to authorize staff to transmit the proposed adoption materials to the state; the motion carried. The staff member and commissioners emphasized that this step is administrative — the county is asking for the state's review so a formal public hearing can be scheduled if the state signs off. The staff member reiterated that the county does not expect substantive changes to local requirements as a result of the state's revisions.
After the Board of Health business, the commissioners returned to the regular meeting and briefly recessed while waiting for a member to arrive.
Votes at a glance: the meeting record shows voice approval for the agenda, expenditures and minutes. The motion to transmit Regulation 43 to the state also passed; the transcript indicates the motion passed with affirmative votes but does not record a roll call or attach individual vote names in the record.
Next steps: county staff will submit the county'proposed Regulation 43 materials to the state for review; if the state approves, the Board of Health will set a public hearing for formal adoption.
