Authority: IC 16-19-3-4; IC 16-41-31-5

Affected: IC 16-41-31

Sec. 39. (a) A bed and breakfast establishment shall be provided with a safe, potable water supply through the use of a public water supply system if the water supply is reasonably available to the bed and breakfast establishment. If a public water supply system is not available, water shall be provided by a system approved by the local board.

(b) The water for a bed and breakfast establishment shall be supplied under pressure. The water supply and distribution system shall be sized and constructed to deliver water at twenty (20) pounds per square inch minimum pressure to all fixtures and appurtenances during periods of peak water demand.

(c) For bed and breakfast establishments which are not connected to public water supply and which have six (6) or fewer rooms for rent, the minimum distance between wells and buried pump suction lines and from sources of contamination shall be in accordance with the following:

1. Sewers and drains50 feet

   1. Exception: Sewers and drains of waterworks grade ductile iron pipe with mechanical joints or PVC pressure sewer pipe with an SDR rating of twenty-six (26) or less, having mechanical or compression joints, may be located within the fifty (50) foot distance. In no case, however, shall sewers be located closer than twenty (20) feet to dug and bored water supply wells nor closer than ten (10) feet to drilled and driven water supply wells or subsurface pump suction lines.
2. Septic tanks, soil absorption systems,
3. wastewater treatment facilities, and
4. privies50 feet
5. Streams, lakes, ponds, and ditches25 feet

6. Property lines50 feet

   1. Exception: The distances enumerated herein shall be doubled for soil absorption systems constructed where there exist horizons, layers, or strata within thirty-four (34) inches of the ground surface with a loading rate greater than seventy-five hundredths (0.75) gallons per day per square foot as determined from 410 IAC 6-8.1-49, Table V, unless that hazard can be overcome through system design.

(d) For bed and breakfast establishments which are not connected to public water supply and which have more than six (6) rooms for rent, the minimum distance between wells and buried pump suction lines and from sources of contamination shall be in accordance with the following:

1. Sewers and drains100 feet

   1. Exception: Sewers and drains of waterworks grade ductile iron pipe with mechanical joints or PVC pressure sewer pipe with an SDR rating of twenty-six (26) or less, having mechanical or compression joints, may be located within the one hundred (100) feet distance. In no case, however, shall sewers be located closer than thirty (30) feet to water supply wells or subsurface pump suction lines.
2. Septic tanks, soil absorption systems,

wastewater treatment facilities, and

1. privies100 feet
2. Streams, lakes, ponds, and ditches25 feet

3. Property lines100 feet

   1. Exception: The distances enumerated herein shall be doubled for soil absorption systems constructed where there exist horizons, layers, or strata within thirty-four (34) inches of the ground surface which are classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, as "severe due to poor filter" unless that hazard can be overcome through system design.

(e) Water supplies shall have no well head, well casing, pump, pumping machinery, or exposed pressure tanks or suction pumping located in any pit, room, or space which is walled in or otherwise enclosed so that it does not have free drainage by gravity to the surface of the ground at all times.

(f) All water supply wells shall be cased, and the annular space properly sealed, to a depth of at least twenty-five (25) feet below finished grade. The casing pipe of any well shall project not less than twelve (12) inches above flood level, finished grade, or the highest flood level of record, whichever is greater. No casing shall be cut off below grade except to install a pitless adapter.

(g) Well pumps, pressure tanks, storage tanks, etc., shall be sized to meet peak water demands and total daily demands. The minimum usable capacity of the pressure tank, in gallons, shall be three (3) times the installed well pump capacity, in gallons per minute. If the well or pump cannot meet peak demands, sufficient additional usable storage shall be provided to meet peak demands.

(h) Wells and potable water distribution systems shall be disinfected after construction and after each repair. Before releasing the potable system for use, the water shall be tested and shown to be bacteriologically acceptable in at least two (2) consecutive samples collected twenty-four (24) hours apart.

(i) The water supply of a bed and breakfast establishment may not be constructed or altered until the plans for construction or alteration have been submitted to and approved by the local board.

(Indiana Department of Health; 410 IAC 7-15.5-39; filed Jul 29, 1992, 10:00 a.m.: 15 IR 2580; readopted filed Jul 11, 2001, 2:23 p.m.: 24 IR 4234; readopted filed May 22, 2007, 1:44 p.m.: 20070613-IR-410070141RFA; readopted filed Sep 11, 2013, 3:19 p.m.: 20131009-IR-410130346RFA; readopted filed Nov 13, 2019, 3:14 p.m.: 20191211-IR-410190391RFA; readopted filed Nov 14, 2025, 11:18 a.m.: 20251210-IR-410240588RFA)