Kansas Statutes Annotated

K.S.A. § 65-164 (2026)

Sewage; definition; complaints, investigations, orders; administrative review

✓ current as of May 2026

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65-164. Sewage; definition; complaints, investigations, orders; administrative review. (a) No person, company, corporation, institution or municipality shall place or permit to be placed or discharge or permit to flow into any of the waters of the state any sewage, except as hereinafter provided. This act shall not prevent the discharge of sewage from any public sewer system owned and maintained by a municipality or sewerage company, if such sewer system was in operation and was discharging sewage into the waters of the state on March 20, 1907, but this exception shall not permit the discharge of sewage from any sewer system that has been extended subsequent to such date, nor shall it permit the discharge of any sewage which, upon investigation by the secretary of health and environment as hereinafter provided, is found to be polluting the waters of the state in a manner prejudicial to the health of the inhabitants thereof.

(b) For the purposes of this act, "sewage" means any substance that contains any of the waste products or excrementitious or other discharges from the bodies of human beings or animals, or chemical or other wastes from domestic, manufacturing or other forms of industry.

(c) Whenever a complaint is made to the secretary of health and environment by the mayor of any city of the state, by a local health officer or by a county or joint board of health, complaining of the pollution or of the polluted condition of any of the waters of the state situated within the county within which the city, local health officer or county or joint board of health is located, it shall be the duty of the secretary of health and environment to cause an investigation of the pollution or the polluted condition complained of. Also, whenever the secretary of health and environment otherwise has reason to believe that any of the waters of the state are being polluted in a manner prejudicial to the health of any of the inhabitants of the state, the secretary may initiate an investigation of such pollution.

(d) Whenever an investigation is undertaken by the secretary of health and environment, under subsection (c), it shall be the duty of any person, company, corporation, institution or municipality concerned in such pollution to furnish, on demand, to the secretary of health and environment such information as required relative to the amount and character of the polluting material discharged into the waters by such person, company, corporation, institution or municipality. If the secretary of health and environment finds that any of the waters of the state have been or are being polluted in a manner prejudicial to the health of any of the inhabitants of the state, the secretary of health and environment shall have the authority to make an order requiring: (1) Such pollution to cease within a reasonable time; (2) requiring such manner of treatment or of disposition of the sewage or other polluting material as, in the secretary's judgment, is necessary to prevent the future pollution of such waters; or (3) both. It shall be the duty of the person, company, corporation, institution or municipality to whom such order is directed to fully comply with the order of the secretary of health and environment.

(e) Any person, company, corporation, institution or municipality upon whom an order has been imposed pursuant to subsection (d) may appeal to the secretary within 30 days after service of the order. If appealed, a hearing shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Kansas administrative procedure act.

History: L. 1907, ch. 382, § 4; L. 1909, ch. 226, § 2; R.S. 1923, 65-164; L. 1974, ch. 352, § 25; L. 1980, ch. 182, § 23; L. 1986, ch. 318, § 84; L. 1997, ch. 92, § 1; April 17.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 5 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1981–2025 · leading case: Nora H. Ringler Revocable Fam. Trust v. Meyer Land & Cattle Co., 958 P.2d 1162 (Kan. Ct. App. 1998).

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Nora H. Ringler Revocable Fam. Trust v. Meyer Land & Cattle Co., 958 P.2d 1162 (Kan. Ct. App. 1998). “In April 1992, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) issued a 5-year permit to defendants pursuant to K.S.A. 65-164 et seq., allowing defendants to' operate water pollution control facilities with respect to livestock waste water on their property.”

Taylor v. Dep't of Health & Env't, 634 P.2d 1075 (Kan. 1981). · cites it 2× “65-170d against Stanley Taylor, d/b/a Crop Clinic for improper application of pesticides which caused water pollution in violation of K.S.A. 1975 Supp. 65-164 et seq., and regulations K.”

Nunn v. Chem. Waste Mgmt., Inc., 856 F.2d 1464 (10th Cir. 1988). · cites it 2× “Although the warranties do not expressly mention leakage, we conclude that the trial court did not clearly err in interpreting these ambiguous contractual warranties to warrant against the leakage of toxic wastes from the site.”

John M. Denman Oil Co. v. State Corp. Comm'n of the State, 342 P.3d 958 (Kan. Ct. App. 2015). “See K.S.A. 65-164; Nunn v. Chemical Waste Management, Inc.”

Kremer v. Scannell Props. 516, LLC (D. Kan. 2025). · cites it 2× “, ¶¶ 49, 51, 53 (attaching more than 300 pages of cited laws contained in City of Bonner Springs Unified Development Ordinance, Code of the City of Bonner Springs, Unified Government Code of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas statute on discharge of sewage, K.”

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