New rules require sewer hookups

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — New regulations are now in effect for county residents who live within 200 feet of a sanitation system.

Earlier this month the county commission approved the new regulations which county officials said have now taken effect.

The regulations were originally set up at the request of the officials for the water and sanitation district for the Williams Acres subdivision. The subdivision is now working to get connected to the Gallup city sewage system, and when it does, the subdivision plans to require anyone within 200 feet of the sewage line to get hooked up.

The reason for this, said County Manager Tom Trujillo, is to make sure county residents are in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency guidelines which want anyone able to get hooked up to a sanitation system to do so.

When the proposal was first brought up in the county commission in late October, county officials said that it would effect not only the Williams Acres subdivision but any community in the county — such as Ramah and Thoreau — which also had their own sanitation system.

The ordinance was then delayed for six weeks to allow the county to contact the other water and sanitation districts about the proposed ordinance and give them a chance to provide any feedback.

Trujillo said he has sent letters to each of the sanitation district offices and has received no response one way or the other about the new law.

While the new regulations require county residents who are not hooked up to comply, Trujillo said no deadlines have been set up, but it does now give sanitation districts another tool to use to force people in their districts to get hooked up if they are not hooked up already.