My town is proposing to search each home in the community. The EPA says the town has waste water problems due to sump pumps. I think that is ridiculous. Anyway, to follow the EPA the town is planning on going door to door in the city to enter the home to search for sump pumps connected to the sewer system. If you do not allow the city to search in your home, then they will cut off your water as a punitive measure. The city does not know if a house even has a sump pump, they are going to search for them. I have been looking for a means to prevent this, as I believe this far exceeds municipal authority. I have been trying to find a way to apply the 4th Amendment to this, but find thus far that it only applies to criminal searches. Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts on how to approach this? Thanks.
Doubtful the city would say that they’d cut off your water as a punitive measure for refusing a home search. More likely they’ve explained that you implicitly agree to certain conditions when you get the water (probably spelled out in the municipal code books), and if you won’t allow possible connections to the water system to be inspected (one of the conditions) then they will cut off your water since you didn’t abide by the agreement. Unlikely you can make a strong case based on the 4th amendment. In my town the owners of lawn sprinkler systems have to arrange & pay for an annual backflow test to ensure that pesticides, for example, are not seeping into the town’s water system via a faulty sprinkler system. Refuse the test and you get no water. That seems reasonable to me.
What truth is really woried about is the crystal meth lab in his living room. Don't worry, they are the EPA not the DEA.
My home is my refuge and I certainly sympathize with any one who does not want their home to be entered by strangers. What does the EPA want to do with owners who have sump pumps hooked up to the sewage system? If the sump pumps are illegal then the search amounts to an illegal search correct? Call your local branch of the ACLU they can at least tell you what to do.
They want to make sure they're not contaminating the waste water in a way that cannot be practically treated.
The problem here is that they are assuming before hand that you have something and are doing something that you are not supposed to be doing. Like laughing weasel said, the ACLU is your best bet. I seriously doubt that this would fly if challenged. If you can say with certainty that you do not have a sump pump then they have no basis to come in.
But that's the problem. You have can have a lawn sprinkler, knowing that it will require an inspection. In effect lawn sprinklers are 'illegal without permit'. This is not a case of the town examining sump pumps... but ALL homes, for what 'might' be there.
By all means talk to the ACLU. I think they’ll tell you that when it comes to hookups to government-controlled systems that terminate at your house, the government has a right to cut off the service if you refuse an inspection of the termination. That just makes good common sense. They’re not inspecting against your will after all.
