If municipal sewage service is not available to your site, you will need to have your own on-lot sewage system.  If you are adding on to your home or business on a site currently serviced by an on-lot system, you will need approval of your Sewage Enforcement Officer before a builling permit will be issued.

Before a building permit can be issued, your sewage management plans need to be developed and approved.

Following is step-by-step on the process to obtain a on-lot sewage system permit for a new system. 

(Note: This is a generalized description, your actual procedure may vary, so make sure that you contact your municipality for final clarification on your septic system permit process):

• Obtain an application from your Sewage Enforcement Officer (SEO).  The application requires basic information, ie. name, address, directions to the site and whether or not your site is a subdivision.  If you are planning to building on the site, we will need to know the number of bedrooms.  Refer to our Municipal Members List to find your SEO contact information.  Many muncipalities in Tioga County are provided with SEO services through the North Central Sewage Agency. 
• Payment is expected at the time of application.  A fee of $100.00 is due with when your application is submitted.   
• Deep Probe Test.  The first test the SEO would do is the deep probe or test pit.  You are responsible to have a backhoe at the site the same time that our SEO is scheduled.  Also, you should plan to be present. The SEO will need to know where you plan to build the home on the lot.
• Perc Test.  If the land passes the deep probe, the perc test will be scheduled with the SEO.  The deep probe and perc test cannot be done on the same day.  You will need to have water at the site and a series of 6 holes must be dug prior to the perc test.  The SEO will give you specific instructions on how to prepare the holes.  You do not have to be present for the perc test.
• Step 5 pertains only to those who are subdividing the land.
  Subdivision and the "Planning Module":   Once the perc test is completed and passed, the surveyor will need to be called to the site.  Many surveyors now complete the Component I Planning Module as part of their services, some do not.  Check with your surveyor.  If the planning module is provided, wait until you get your maps and module back from him.  If the module is not provided, contect your SEO to obtain one.  You can complete the planning module while your surveyor works on your maps.  Your SEO may not mail planning modules and you may have to visit their office and pick one up. 
  
  Once you have your maps and module completed, deliver them to your SEO.  In a day or so, they will contact you to pick up your paperwork.  They may keep your map, in which case make sure that you have made another copy of it to include with the returned paperwork.
  Take the module, map and soils report that your SEO will provide you with to your township planning commission.  If the township planning commission requires county planning commission review and comment, they will direct you to County Planning.
  
  When County/Township officials have signed both the map and moduleand are finished, the package of map, module and soils report go to DEP with a check.  The SEO is not resonsible for mailing or delivering planning modules to the Township, County or DEP.  It is recommended that they be hand-carried so that their whearabouts are always known to the property owner.  Don't rely on anyone else to more your paperwork.  Do it yourself. 
  DEP has up to 30 days to review a Component I Planning Module.  A letter of approval will be sent to the property owner designated in the module.  Copies of this letter go to the county, township, SEO among others.  The SEO will not contact the property owner upon receipt of this letter.  Many times owners will be selling the lot(s) and designs and permits are not needed until sale.  The SEO has no way of knowing which lots are will need a system designed and which will not.  It is the owner's responsibility to contact the SEO when they are ready for a design and permit.
• System Design.  The design of your system will be based on the results of the tests and site examinations that were completed; the results are detailed in a data sheet.  
  Your SEO may provide this design service for you or allow you to have the design work done elsewhere.  If you choose to have your system design completed elsewhere, the resulting design will be reviewed by the SEO for an additional fee.  You will need to check with your SEO for their recommended procedure. 
  If your SEO provides a design service, they may not provide or complete a data sheet upless the owner requres or requests it for an outside design.
• Permit Issuance.  If your plan is approved by the SEO, a permit will be issued.  Once the sewage permit is issued, it is valid for three (3) years.  It can be renewed at the end of the three years if you have not built on the land at that time.