Many people who spoke before the St. Tammany Parish Council during a meeting last week seemed to agree on one thing: across the parish residential septic systems are leaking untreated sewage into the waterways.

But how should St. Tammany fix the issue? That's where opinions diverge .

For several years now, parish officials have been discussing and debating legislation that would require inspections of residential septic systems every three years.

After the Parish Council indefinitely postponed the legislation in 2023, Council members Jeff Corbin and Joe Impastato brought it back in August, but with a significant update : homeowners would no longer have to pay for the inspections, thanks to money provided by St. Tammany Mosquito Abatement, the agency that handles mosquito spraying in

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