Septic (OWTS) Permits in Elbert County, Colorado

New installation permits: what ECPH requires and what it costs

Elbert County Public Health and Environment (ECPH) requires a completed OWTS permit application, a soil test, a system design, test-pit logs, and a site plan for a new septic system or a new soil treatment area. The site itself needs to be prepared before ECPH can act on the application: the lot, property lines, and any soil-profile or percolation-test holes need to be physically marked and visible for the site visit. The base permit fee for a new installation is $85, which is non-refundable regardless of the outcome, plus a state surcharge that ECPH collects and forwards to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to help fund the statewide OWTS program.

Installation itself has to be done by an installer currently licensed in Elbert County, and any engineer-designed system needs sign-off from the design engineer in addition to ECPH's own review. Once the system is in the ground, the applicant must notify ECPH within seven days of finishing installation so a field inspector can inspect the septic tank before it's backfilled -- missing that window, or backfilling before inspection, is the kind of mistake that can force costly rework. A scaled record drawing with a north arrow and benchmark is required for the completed system, since that drawing becomes part of the permanent county record for the parcel.

Selling or buying a property with an existing system: the $345 use-permit inspection

Elbert County requires the seller of a property with an existing OWTS to obtain a use permit before the sale can close, and that use permit has to be backed by an inspection performed by a licensed use-permit inspector -- someone certified through a nationally recognized program such as the National Association of Wastewater Technicians (NAWT) or the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), or an approved equivalent. The use-permit inspection carries its own fee, separate from a new-installation permit: $345 as of this review. Budget for that cost and the lead time to schedule a licensed inspector as part of your closing timeline, not as an afterthought once you're already under contract.

If you're the buyer, ask early in the process whether the seller has already scheduled or completed the use-permit inspection -- it's the seller's obligation, but a stalled inspection can stall your closing date just the same. If you're the seller, start the process well before you plan to list, since scheduling a NAWT- or NSF-certified inspector and, if the system fails inspection, arranging repairs both take real time.

Where this fits with the county's well-tied lot-size rule

None of this permitting process changes ECPH's separate minimum-lot-size standard -- 10 acres for a parcel that will have its own well, versus 5 acres for a parcel without one -- covered on the county hub. A parcel that clears the lot-size threshold still has to go through the application, soil-test, and inspection steps above before a system can legally be installed or transferred; conversely, a parcel that's already permitted and passing use-permit inspections doesn't need to be re-evaluated against the lot-size rule just because it changes hands. Treat the lot-size rule as the eligibility gate and this permitting process as what happens once you're through it.