Pennsylvania Off Grid Waste Water Help

So. I made a bit of a mistake. Years ago i got some land and built myself an off grid tiny house in PA. This was apparently VERY not aloud. Ive been living in this house for a little over two years now and I recently received a visit from my local sewage enforcement officer. They requested I meet with them and the local planning coordinator to figure out what is to be done with me. They didn't arrest me or ask me to leave day of. But they are doing there very best to get me up to code. In this case hooking me to the grid. I'm looking for anyone who lives off the grid in PA. Anyone who knows of any exceptions to on lot treatment laws in PA. Or really anyone with any ideas that will help me keep my house. Anyone know anyone working at our DEP? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I am not the person you are looking for though I have a question or two.

Is there issue with the fact that you do not have a septic system?  Can you add a pump able container?

Or is the issue with hooking up to electricity?

A place we lived at we were allowed to have a pump-able container.

Also our daughter runs an Air BnB business where she is allowed to do that.

Ours was a 500 gallon concrete container though I think our daughter uses some other kind of container.

Please give some more details about what their issues are ...

I am by no means an expert, but I do have family in Pennsylvania and I've seen a couple different options.
The only *exception* I know is for people who have lots of over 10 acres. Some folks I know are in old houses with cesspools and that seems to depend on the condition and the maintenance as well as the local tolerance for it, since it's determined by a local board, there are also sandhill leach fields in some places.
I'm pretty sure almost everywhere in Pennsylvania except for urban areas, you have the option to have a septic tank as long as it gets pumped out. But again, that depends on the township.
If the local sewage compliance people already have you in their sights, they make the rules and you`ll have to see what flexibility they allow you.
There is state code addressing composting toilets, which might be interesting if pricey. https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pacode?file=/secure/pacode/data/025/chapter73/s73.65.html&d=reduce

As someone who works as a plumber professionally, and for part of a year worked in a code office, I can tell you is often the code officials will work with you, but you will have to come into compliance with the local codes.

It does state within the Pennsylvania code that there is no allow for gray water to be spilled onto grade. Soil and gray water needs to go into a septic system.

Feel free to message me

Hi Matthew;
Well, shucks they caught you!  
After two good years, they realized someone was living on your land without their permission.
Now they want you to follow the rules and regulations.

I suspect you have known all along that it was just a matter of time until this happened.
The good news is it sounds like they are being as friendly and helpful as the rules allow them to be.
Remember that they could be doing all sorts of unfriendly things to force you to comply.

Find out what the requirements are, perhaps they are not too strict.
Unfortunately, some states will not let you reside in a permanent residence without being connected to the power grid.
I personally think this is overstepping the bounds of reasonable regulation when alternative power is a very viable option these days.
There are good health reasons to have septic and wastewater rules.
Watershed environmental damage as well as the health of young children.
If your state has such rules and you can not bring yourself to comply, then it's time to sell that piece of land and look for a new piece in a less regulated state.

Head west young man...
 



 

Hello all.
Thank you very much for your help. I'm still in the process of figuring out exactly what is and isn't allowed so take my words with a grain of salt. For the record, when I started this project I went to a nearby town zoning board and asked about a few things and got verbal permission to start my project. I did however just sort of run with that and didn't do the due diligence of more research which would have prevented all this.

I do know now that gray water is specifically outlawed in PA. As I understand it this is the result of 1 or 2 experimental systems not meeting the testing requirements in lab conditions, but I don't know more than that about why the whole branch of technology has been regulated against.

A pump-able tank was my next thought as well. More or less a mobile RV tank or large in-ground tank that I could have someone come and pump once a year. I was told by my SEO that this wasn't an option in my case but he didn't choose to elaborate as to why.

They are strongly pushing for an on lot septic system which I would need to have designed and installed by someone else. In my area that system alone is going to be more than the cost of the land and the house put together. And that is if I pass the needed soil tests to be allowed to build one. My SEO is not optimistic about my chances. The soil here is very rocky and well drained.  

Apparently I am close enough to township water lines to be legally required to hook my house to them. This has a minimum cost of 2k in my area with added cost due to sight constraints. Like hills or trees or large rocks all of which I have between my house and the water line.

Also Apparently if I install a septic system I'm most likely to need a pumping tank to pump water into my drain field. This would mean that I'm required to hook that system to grid power. Which will be another 5k ish.

All this has a deep sort of irony to it. I use 15 gallons of water a week at my house. I know this because I transport that water gallon by gallon to my house on a bicycle from a local spring. The waste water I produce is of such a small quantity that I could drain it into a stock tank full of gravel and it would evaporate before it overflowed. I'm feeling very frustrated. I'm worried that the end cost to "fix" this "problem" will be more than just moving to another state and building another house there. Although that would mean abandoning ageing members of my family who depend on my help to live their lives.

maybe the situation presents part of the solution. some summer/hunting cabins can get by with permits for a vault privy (outhouse)-- i found a bunch of info on that in a basic web search. maybe you can work together with the elders in your family to officially reside with them most of the year and reclassify your space as a recreational camp/cabin to be used on a seasonal basis (and then follow the rules about how long you can legally use it).

Another solution might be to get an RV to live in (sleeping and bath, etc) and use you cabin for cooking and recreation, etc.

The laws for living in an RV would have to be respected and finding out if that is an option.

We have land where we have this situation.

As you mentioned, `More or less a mobile RV tank` work well for us a we had a RV Dump Station that was very near us.

The Amish and Mennonites are exempt from these laws for religious reasons.

It would be nice to hear back from Matthew almost two years later to see how this all worked out.