In Pennsylvania, onsite wastewater (septic) systems are regulated by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of Point and Non-Point Source Management — Act 537 Sewage Facilities Program; local Sewage Enforcement Officers (SEOs) administer day-to-day permitting, 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 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of Point and Non-Point Source Management — Act 537 Sewage Facilities Program; local Sewage Enforcement Officers (SEOs) administer day-to-day permitting (official program page). Regulation is mostly delegated to LOCAL AGENCIES under the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537, 1966): individual municipalities, groups of municipalities, or county health departments each employ or contract a primary and alternate certified Sewage Enforcement Officer (SEO), who evaluates soil, issues onlot sewage disposal system permits, and inspects installations. DEP provides statewide technical standards, training/certification of SEOs, and oversight, but does not itself issue individual system permits.
The statewide onsite-wastewater code is cited as 25 Pa. Code Chapter 71 (Administration of Sewage Facilities Planning Program), Chapter 72 (Administration of Sewage Facilities Permitting Program), and Chapter 73 (Standards for Onlot Sewage Treatment Facilities). 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 Pennsylvania; treat this as the shape of the process, and get the actual numbers from the agency linked above or from the county office.
We have not verified the specific licensing regime for Pennsylvania against an official source. Check with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of Point and Non-Point Source Management — Act 537 Sewage Facilities Program; local Sewage Enforcement Officers (SEOs) administer day-to-day permitting directly.
Septic records in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania yet; check with the county office listed on its records page below, or with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of Point and Non-Point Source Management — Act 537 Sewage Facilities Program; local Sewage Enforcement Officers (SEOs) administer day-to-day permitting.
We hold 262 septic records across 10 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. Each county page below shows exactly where its records are kept and how many we hold.
Full Pennsylvania county-by-county index · Open the parcel map
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of Point and Non-Point Source Management — Act 537 Sewage Facilities Program; local Sewage Enforcement Officers (SEOs) administer day-to-day permitting. Regulation is mostly delegated to LOCAL AGENCIES under the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act (Act 537, 1966): individual municipalities, groups of municipalities, or county health departments each employ or contract a primary and alternate certified Sewage Enforcement Officer (SEO), who evaluates soil, issues onlot sewage disposal system permits, and inspects installations. DEP provides statewide technical standards, training/certification of SEOs, and oversight, but does not itself issue individual system permits.
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.
Check with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Bureau of Point and Non-Point Source Management — Act 537 Sewage Facilities Program; local Sewage Enforcement Officers (SEOs) administer day-to-day permitting, which administers licensing for onsite wastewater installers here.
Septic records are generally held by the county or district health office that issued the permit. See our county-by-county Pennsylvania 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.