In Michigan, onsite wastewater (septic) systems are regulated by Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division - Onsite Wastewater Management Unit, which sets the statewide code, and permits are issued and inspections carried out by county or local health jurisdictions. 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 Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division - Onsite Wastewater Management Unit (official program page). EGLE sets minimum statewide criteria (the Michigan Criteria for Subsurface Sewage Disposal), but day-to-day permitting, site evaluation, inspection, and enforcement is done by Michigan's local health departments (45 LHDs covering all 83 counties), many of which also apply their own local sanitary codes; this is a required local health department program under the Public Health Code, Act 368 of 1978.
The statewide onsite-wastewater code is cited as Mich. Admin. Code R 325.3311 et seq. (Michigan Criteria for Subsurface Sewage Disposal). 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 Michigan; treat this as the shape of the process, and get the actual numbers from the agency linked above or from the county office.
| Design | No statewide design license; a system design is typically prepared following a soil evaluation by local health department staff or a Registered Sanitarian (registered under Act 147, P.A. 1963); for challenging sites the design may need to be prepared by a Michigan-licensed Professional Engineer. |
|---|---|
| Installation | No statewide septic installer license - installer registration/licensing requirements are set and administered individually by each local/county health department and vary by jurisdiction. |
Septic records in Michigan 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 Michigan yet; check with the county office listed on its records page below, or with Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division - Onsite Wastewater Management Unit.
We hold 64,496 septic records across 43 of 83 Michigan counties. Each county page below shows exactly where its records are kept and how many we hold.
| County | Records held |
|---|---|
| Marquette | 34,498 |
| Washtenaw | 11,810 |
| Grand Traverse | 7,428 |
| St. Joseph | 4,904 |
| Hillsdale | 2,899 |
| Branch | 2,154 |
| Macomb | 105 |
| Arenac | 84 |
| Saginaw | 71 |
| Midland | 57 |
| Alger | 55 |
| Shiawassee | 51 |
| Tuscola | 38 |
| Alpena | 33 |
| Dickinson | 31 |
| St. Clair | 30 |
| Huron | 29 |
| Baraga | 25 |
| Kalkaska | 25 |
| Ottawa | 24 |
| Clinton | 22 |
| Alcona | 20 |
| Antrim | 18 |
| Barry | 17 |
| Chippewa | 8 |
| Lenawee | 8 |
| Cass | 7 |
| Kalamazoo | 6 |
| Ionia | 5 |
| Luce | 5 |
| Presque Isle | 4 |
| Monroe | 4 |
| Lake | 4 |
| Iron | 3 |
| Kent | 3 |
| Oscoda | 2 |
| Houghton | 2 |
| Gogebic | 2 |
| Delta | 1 |
| Genesee | 1 |
| Clare | 1 |
| Jackson | 1 |
| Manistee | 1 |
Full Michigan county-by-county index · Open the parcel map
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Drinking Water and Environmental Health Division - Onsite Wastewater Management Unit. EGLE sets minimum statewide criteria (the Michigan Criteria for Subsurface Sewage Disposal), but day-to-day permitting, site evaluation, inspection, and enforcement is done by Michigan's local health departments (45 LHDs covering all 83 counties), many of which also apply their own local sanitary codes; this is a required local health department program under the Public Health Code, Act 368 of 1978.
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.
No statewide septic installer license - installer registration/licensing requirements are set and administered individually by each local/county health department and vary by jurisdiction.
Septic records are generally held by the county or district health office that issued the permit. See our county-by-county Michigan 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.