ENFIELD — Residents will have a chance to weigh in on a proposed set of septic rules for waterfront properties during a public hearing Monday evening.

If enacted by the Selectboard, the rules would require people who live within 250-foot buffer zones on Lake Mascoma, Crystal Lake, George Pond and Spectacle Pond to have their septic systems inspected and pumped every three years. Residents could apply for a waiver that would allow them to pump their septic system every five years, according to a draft of the rules.

The rules could affect hundreds of residents who live around the four water bodies and are just one piece of the town’s effort to improve water quality. While the board could vote on the proposed rules Monday, it could also alter them based on feedback from residents and vote at a future meeting, Town Manager Ed Morris said. The goal is to begin implementing the rules sometime next year.

“I think it’s part of a multi-pronged approach of trying to protect our waters,” Morris, who lives on Crystal Lake, said of the proposed rules. “It’s going to take a lot more than one rule or one stormwater initiative. We need to be working on this at many different fronts.”

Part of the reason the new septic rules are necessary, Morris said, is that the town does not have data on how many septic systems have failed. Residents have raised concerns about cyanobacteria blooms on Crystal and Mascoma lakes in recent years. Septic systems that are not working properly can contribute to such blooms, according to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.

Town officials are also working to address stormwater runoff concerns and on a watershed management plan for Mascoma Lake with Lebanon, Morris said.

Should the new septic rules go into effect, property owners who live within the 250-foot buffer zones would be notified. Then they would be required to file paperwork with the town showing they are getting their septic systems inspected and pumped. The town’s building inspector, who also serves as the town health officer, would oversee the process and there will be no additional cost to taxpayers, Morris said.

The proposed rules came out of a June Lakeshore District Feedback Forum hosted by the Planning Board to solicit feedback from residents who live along the town’s water bodies.

“The sentiment there was very strong for more regulation to protect the watershed, including regulation of septic systems,” said Martha Rich, president of the Mascoma Lake Association. “I feel as those the proposed septic rules are a direct response to the input, that they took action very quickly following that forum and we appreciate that.”

After the initial forum, the discussion moved to the Selectboard, where members discussed how septic rules were “something we could work on that would make an effect fairly quickly and help protect our lakes,” Morris said.

Some residents see the proposed rules as a case of government overreach for a problem they say does not exist, while others support them.

“To me, it’s the most onerous thing I can imagine they’re doing to us people,” said John Esler, who has lived on Crystal Lake year-round for 25 years.

Esler, who has had a long career in wastewater treatment, said he wants the town to hold off on implementing the rules and instead to form a committee to study the topic.

If town officials insist on doing something, he wants them to adopt regulations similar to Sunapee, which requires residents who live in the town’s Shoreline Overlay District to have their septic systems pumped every three years, with the possibility of exemptions of up to six years. Unlike Enfield’s proposed rules, Sunapee does not require residents to have their septic systems inspected.

“That’s the way to go,” Esler said.

Esler also expressed concerns about the financial impact on residents who live within the buffer zones, from the cost of having systems inspected and pumped to the fines for those who do not do so. Those found to be violating the rules could be fined up to $1,000 a day, according to the proposed rules.

“As long as they’re working with us and helping to try solve the situation, we don’t usually implement fines,” Morris said, adding that the town would help connect residents with resources to help cover expenses. “In this case especially our goal is to reduce pollutants into the lake, not to collect fines and money.”

Costs for septic system inspections and pumping vary depending on the size of the system. Rich, the president of the Mascoma Lake Association, said she has paid between $400 and $600 to pump out her septic tank, and gotten inspection estimates of up to around $600.

This summer, Dan Regan, a Crystal Lake resident who supports the proposed rules, pulled together a group of eight households and they paid around $250 each to get their systems inspected. “If you choose to live on a lake there’s a responsibility that comes with that,” Regan said. “I don’t want to see anyone get ‘priced out’ either, but by the same token we have to be taking care of this issue.”

The public hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at the town’s Public Works Facility, located at 74 Lockehaven Road. It can also be streamed on MicrosoftTeams via enfield.nh.us.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.