Recently the Rains County Commissioner’s Court voted to require all new On Site Sewage Systems be permitted. This removes the “10 acre exemption” from the “County’s” order. There has been and continues to be misinformation circulating concerning how this move affects the citizens of the county. Allow me to present information that may alleviate some or all of this misinformation.

1. This change in the Rains County Order has no impact on systems to be installed under the jurisdiction of the Sabine River Authority. The Sabine River Authority order is independent of the Rains County Order.

2. Systems installed prior to the effective date of this order change are not affected by this change in the order.

3. Systems installed after the effective date will not be required to be aerobic surface application systems.

4. The type of system to be installed will be determined by soil properties and property configuration as set forth in TAC 285.

5. Rains County is not the only county in the area that requires permitting of all systems. All the surrounding counties have long since removed the ten acre exemption from their order.