Septic companies in Colorado

Who Regulates Septic Systems in Colorado

Sources: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services; Colorado Water Quality Control Commission. Checked 2026-09-18.

Colorado sets a floor at the state and lets every county build on top of it. The state rule is Regulation 43, and your county's rule is the one you actually live under. Because counties may go further, the answer to a septic question here genuinely changes from one county to the next.

On-site wastewater treatment systems, also known as septic systems, are governed by Regulation 43 opens in a new tab, and for systems with flows of 2,000 gallons per day or less, permitting is conducted by local counties opens in a new tab. A house sits well inside that threshold, so your permit is a county permit.

The local rule is not optional and it can only go one way. Every local board of health in the state shall develop and adopt detailed rules for onsite wastewater treatment systems within its jurisdiction opens in a new tab, and local boards have one year from the effective date to update rules which must be as stringent as Regulation 43 opens in a new tab.

The state health department says each local public health agency in Colorado has adopted regulations at least as stringent as Regulation 43, and to contact your local county or public health agency for copies opens in a new tab. The division's own job is to develop and recommend minimum standards for location, design, construction, performance, installation, alteration and use opens in a new tab.

Licenses and What to Check Before You Hire

Sources: Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services; Colorado Water Quality Control Commission; Boulder County Public Health; Eagle County, Colorado, Environmental Health Department; Douglas County Health Department; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Checked 2026-09-18.

This is the Colorado question that catches people out, so here it is plainly. Licensing here is a county decision, and the statute makes it optional for the county. What your contractor must hold depends entirely on where you live.

The local board of health may adopt rules that provide for the licensing of systems contractors, and the local public health agency may charge a fee not exceeding actual costs for the initial licence opens in a new tab. The same permissive wording covers systems cleaners opens in a new tab, which is Colorado's term for a specialist in cleaning and pumping systems and removing the residues opens in a new tab.

Regulation 43 lists four roles a local board may licence: systems contractors, systems cleaners, systems maintenance providers, and transfer of title inspectors opens in a new tab. Those four names are worth using on the phone, because they are what your county's own rule will call them.

Three counties show how differently this lands. Boulder County requires a licence for installers, property transfer inspectors and cleaners who wish to operate there opens in a new tab. Eagle County requires all installers and cleaners to hold a System Contractor licence from its environmental health department, renewed annually opens in a new tab.

Douglas County takes a different route, requiring all designers, soil evaluators, installers, inspectors, operation and maintenance providers and pumpers to take the National Association of Wastewater Technicians training opens in a new tab. That NAWT certification also appears in the state rule, where transfer of title inspectors must be certified by NAWT or an equivalent programme approved by CDPHE and the local agency opens in a new tab.

We hold no Colorado register of our own, so no listing here carries a verified credential for this state. We found no statewide list to check against, which follows from the licence being issued by your county, so your local public health agency is where a contractor's standing is confirmed.

Permits, Inspections and Selling a Home

Sources: Colorado Water Quality Control Commission; Colorado General Assembly, Office of Legislative Legal Services; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Jefferson County Public Health, Colorado; Douglas County Health Department; Boulder County Public Health. Checked 2026-09-18.

Prior to installing, altering or repairing a system, the applicant must obtain a permit from the local public health agency opens in a new tab, and the permit application must be in writing and include the information, data, plans, specifications, statements and commitments the local board of health requires opens in a new tab. What that list contains is set by your county, which is the first thing to ask for.

One practical warning before you dial. The rule names the local public health agency, and that is right in most counties, but in our own county research we found several where septic sits with the building department or community development instead, and the health agency's own page says so. The table at the foot of this page names the office for each county.

Two inspections bracket the work. A site and soil evaluation must be conducted for each property on which a system is proposed, to determine whether the location can support one opens in a new tab, and a final inspection prior to backfilling by the local public health agency confirms it was installed according to the permit and the regulations opens in a new tab.

Selling is the clearest example of the county layer mattering. A local board of health may choose to require an inspection of the system serving a residence or other building opens in a new tab, and the state rule says in words that a local board of health is not required to develop a transfer of title inspection program opens in a new tab. So whether you need one is a question for your county, not the state.

Where a county does run one, it has teeth. Jefferson County requires owners to have systems inspected and obtain a use permit from the department before the sale of a property served by one opens in a new tab, Douglas County puts the duty to obtain the use permit on the owner or seller opens in a new tab, and Boulder County's property transfer regulation requires an adequately operating and approved system sized for the accurate number of bedrooms opens in a new tab.

Keeping a System Working

Sources: Colorado Water Quality Control Commission; United States Environmental Protection Agency. Checked 2026-09-18.

Colorado puts maintenance on the owner unless the responsibility has been contractually assigned to a tenant, a third party, or a public, quasi-public or political subdivision opens in a new tab, so a rental agreement can move it but silence does not. If yours is an engineered system the schedule is set out for you: higher level treatment and disinfection systems get two inspections at six month intervals in the first year, then annual inspections for the life of the system opens in a new tab, against the EPA's three year interval for an ordinary one opens in a new tab.

Help Paying for Repairs

Sources: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; Boulder County Public Health; United States Environmental Protection Agency. Checked 2026-09-18.

Colorado's state money is aimed at organisations rather than households. CDPHE manages and provides money for water, wastewater and stormwater projects, with different tools to help entities find the right kind of money for each project opens in a new tab, and the Nonpoint Source Program sends out a request for applications for Clean Water Act Section 319(h) funding every year opens in a new tab.

Two things do reach a single household, and one of them is local. Boulder County offers an adjusted system fee for households that may be eligible based on USDA Rural Development low to moderate income levels opens in a new tab, which is worth asking your own county about. Federal grants and low interest loans repair rural single family homes, with grants for elderly very low income owners to remove health and safety hazards including septic systems opens in a new tab.

Find Your Local Public Health Agency

Colorado septic permits are issued locally for systems under 2,000 gallons a day, which covers a house. The office is usually the county public health agency, but not always: in several counties below it is the building department or community development. Each entry names the office that actually does the work. Checked 2026-09-18.

Questions People Ask