Blackout-Readyby Crisis-Ready Society

Home / The guide / Sanitation

Sanitation · Approvals, site and separation distances · sanitation-4

Find your legal approval pathway

Onsite wastewater is regulated almost everywhere, and the rules differ by country, state and even county. Find out what applies before you design anything.

How

  1. Contact the authority that handles onsite wastewater where you are (often local health, environment or building control). Ask which systems are allowed, who may design and install them, and what permits and inspections are needed.
  2. Example, United States: states and local governments set onsite rules, and US EPA publishes homeowner guidance and a design manual but does not issue household permits.
  3. Example, England: small sewage discharges can run without an environmental permit if they meet the general binding rules, including a limit of 2 cubic metres a day to ground and 5 cubic metres a day to surface water. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules.
  4. Example, England: a septic tank alone may not discharge to a river or stream. Discharges to surface water must pass through a sewage treatment plant.
  5. Ask separately whether greywater reuse and composting toilets need their own permit. For example, California allows a simple laundry-to-landscape system without a permit if the plumbing code conditions are met.
  6. Keep written records of every answer and permit.

Do these first

Sources

  1. Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal Systems. US Environmental Protection Agency, accessed 2026-11
  2. General binding rules for small sewage discharges (SSDs) with effect from 2 October 2023. UK Government (Environment Agency, England), accessed 2026-11
  3. General binding rules: small sewage discharge to a surface water. UK Government (Environment Agency, England), accessed 2026-11
  4. Septic tanks and sewage treatment plants: what you need to do. UK Government, accessed 2026-11
  5. Laundry to Landscape Graywater System Design Guidelines. County of Santa Cruz Environmental Health, accessed 2026-11
  6. Setback Distance From Septic to Drinking Water Well. Extension.org (Cooperative Extension), accessed 2026-11

Open in the interactive guide