Amish Families Evicted Over Sewage Spreading

May 11, 2009 6:29 p.m. EST

Barr Township, PA (AHN) - Two families who belong to an ultraconservative Amish sect were locked out of their homes Monday over the way they dispose of sewage.

The Miller and Swartenzentruver families were ordered out of their homes because they were using an outhouse and spreading the waste on their fields without proper treatment.

Building and health officials took the families to court after neighbors expressed fear that the practices would contaminate their fields.

The families say the health and building codes violate their religious beliefs.

A member of the sect was sentenced in March to 90 days in jail for contempt of court after he refused to bring two school outhouses up to code.