Installation of Water Softening Systems at Large Multifamily Housing Facilities and Apartment Complexes - Articles

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Posted by: Azya Thornton on Jun 18, 2025

Court: TN Attorney General Opinions

Hearing Date: 05/07/2025

Opinion Number: 10

Question: The Environmental Protection Agency regulates public water systems through the federal Safe Drinking Water Act which focuses on ensuring public water systems meet standards for contaminants and implement treatment techniques to achieve this goal. Without creating a conflict with federal standards, can Tennessee amend its state Safe Drinking Water Act to provide that a point-of-entry water softening system at a large multifamily housing facility or apartment complex is not a “treatment facility”?

Opinion: Probably. No judicial decision or agency guidance cleanly resolves this issue. But the best reading of the relevant statutory and regulatory authority suggests such legislation would be permissible, and there is broad support among States that softening does not trigger regulation as a consecutive water system. Some States with primacy authority have already adopted regulations that offer a pathway for building owners to use softening systems without incurring the normal regulatory burdens associated with public water systems.

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