Press Room
Title 5
Last summer, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) released a Draft of proposed changes to 310 CMR 15.000: The State Environmental Code; Title 5. The draft was open to public comment until October 31, 2005 and includes changes that will give the Local Boards of Health more authority and will clarify many design requirements, making the approval process smoother. Changes that will affect businesses and homeowners include: an increase in the time that a Certificate of Compliance can be used in lieu of a Title V Inspection, from two to three years with annual pumping; an elimination of the need to have a Title 5 Inspection for transfers between spouses, parents and children, siblings and to revocable trusts; an expansion on the use of tight tanks to allow seasonal homes to install and use a tight tank as long as the home is used seasonally (6 months or less per year); and an automatic failure of cesspools with a daily flow between 2,000 and 10,000 gallons per day. Proposed changes also include an expansion on the number of items approvable under Local Upgrade Approval. This allows for variances, typically needing DEP approval, to be approved by the local Board of Health, drastically reducing the time required for plan approval. A significant change for land development is the exemption for cluster developments (developments of land into smaller lot sizes which maintain at lest 50% for open space) from having to demonstrate that the design flow of the shared system does not exceed the design flow which could have been constructed in compliance with Title 5, without the use of a shared system. The entire regulations can be viewed on-line at: http://mass.gov/dep/water/laws/regulati.htm#t5regs
