In Florida, onsite wastewater (septic) systems are regulated by Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) — Onsite Sewage Program (regulatory authority transferred from the Department of Health effective July 1, 2021, per the Florida Clean Waterways Act), which sets the statewide code; some counties are delegated to issue permits and inspect locally, others are handled directly by the state agency. Installing, replacing or repairing a septic system here means, in sequence: a site and soil evaluation, a design, a permit application, an inspection while the system is open, and a final as-built record once it is approved.
The state-level regulator is Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) — Onsite Sewage Program (regulatory authority transferred from the Department of Health effective July 1, 2021, per the Florida Clean Waterways Act) (official program page). DEP now holds statewide rulemaking and program authority for onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems (OSTDS), but county health department offices continued doing day-to-day permitting and inspection during a phased transition; DEP began directly permitting in Panhandle-area counties and Marion County starting January/July 2025, with the remaining counties transitioning to direct DEP permitting through December 2026.
The statewide onsite-wastewater code is cited as Florida Administrative Code Chapter 62-6 (formerly Chapter 64E-6), Standards for Onsite Sewage Treatment and Disposal Systems; statutory basis Fla. Stat. §381.0065. We link the agency's own page above rather than restating specific numeric requirements from it, since those change by rule revision and by local amendment.
The order of operations is broadly consistent across the country, even though the specific numbers in each step vary by state and often by county. None of the figures below are specific to Florida; treat this as the shape of the process, and get the actual numbers from the agency linked above or from the county office.
| Design | Site evaluations and system design/evaluation work must be performed by a registered septic tank contractor or master septic tank contractor (licensed under Ch. 489, Part III, F.S.), a professional engineer with wastewater treatment experience licensed under Ch. 471, F.S., or a DOH/DEP-certified environmental health professional. |
|---|---|
| Installation | Installation requires registration as a Septic Tank Contractor or Master Septic Tank Contractor under Chapter 489, Part III, Florida Statutes, registered with DEP; Master contractors are additionally authorized to design systems and perform soil evaluations where not otherwise restricted. |
Septic records in Florida are generally held by the county or local health jurisdiction that issued the permit, not by the state agency, and are released under the state's public records law. We have not logged the specific statute name and response deadline for Florida yet; check with the county office listed on its records page below, or with Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) — Onsite Sewage Program (regulatory authority transferred from the Department of Health effective July 1, 2021, per the Florida Clean Waterways Act).
We hold 438,614 septic records across 17 of 67 Florida counties. Each county page below shows exactly where its records are kept and how many we hold.
| County | Records held |
|---|---|
| Pasco | 71,315 |
| Charlotte | 69,470 |
| Hillsborough | 56,048 |
| Martin | 46,628 |
| Clay | 34,357 |
| Collier | 28,170 |
| Osceola | 25,651 |
| St. Lucie | 22,161 |
| Citrus | 20,850 |
| Santa Rosa | 18,089 |
| Hernando | 17,424 |
| Pinellas | 12,579 |
| Nassau | 7,598 |
| Okeechobee | 5,184 |
| DeSoto | 3,059 |
| Bay | 21 |
| Brevard | 10 |
Full Florida county-by-county index · Open the parcel map
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) — Onsite Sewage Program (regulatory authority transferred from the Department of Health effective July 1, 2021, per the Florida Clean Waterways Act). DEP now holds statewide rulemaking and program authority for onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems (OSTDS), but county health department offices continued doing day-to-day permitting and inspection during a phased transition; DEP began directly permitting in Panhandle-area counties and Marion County starting January/July 2025, with the remaining counties transitioning to direct DEP permitting through December 2026.
The sequence is a site and soil evaluation, a design sized from the evaluation and (under most state codes) bedroom count, a permit application, an inspection before backfill, and a final as-built filed once the system is approved. Exact numeric requirements are set by the agency's own code, not restated here.
Installation requires registration as a Septic Tank Contractor or Master Septic Tank Contractor under Chapter 489, Part III, Florida Statutes, registered with DEP; Master contractors are additionally authorized to design systems and perform soil evaluations where not otherwise restricted.
Septic records are generally held by the county or district health office that issued the permit. See our county-by-county Florida index for the specific office and portal in each county.
Regulatory information on this page was researched against official state agency sources and last verified 2026-08-31. It is informational only: the agency linked above is authoritative, and requirements can change. We are not lawyers, not a government body, and not affiliated with, licensed or certified by any agency named on this page.