Septic companies in Illinois

Who Regulates Septic Systems in Illinois

Sources: Illinois Department of Public Health; Illinois General Assembly; Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Checked 2026-09-18.

Illinois runs this from the state, and about 90 local health agencies do the plan reviews on the ground. The state sets the code and issues the contractor licences. The agency you deal with is the local one, working either as an agent of the state or under its own approved ordinance.

The Illinois Department of Public Health regulates the installation of all private sewage disposal systems that have no surface discharge, such as septic tanks and seepage fields opens in a new tab. Illinois calls them private sewage disposal systems throughout, so that is the phrase to search for.

There are about 90 local health agencies in Illinois that also review sewage disposal system construction plans, either by authority of a local ordinance or as an agent of the Department opens in a new tab. The Act lets the Department designate full time municipal, district, county or multiple county health departments as its agents opens in a new tab.

Which of those two your county is changes the rules that apply to you. Where the Department approves a local plan, the ordinance shall prevail in lieu of the state licensure, fee and inspection programme opens in a new tab, and the code defines a local authority as a unit of government enforcing an approved ordinance, or a health department designated as an agent of the State opens in a new tab. Ask your county office which it is before you assume the state rule applies.

Licenses and What to Check Before You Hire

Sources: Illinois Department of Public Health; Illinois General Assembly; Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Checked 2026-09-18.

Illinois licenses two separate trades and calls both of them licences. IDPH licenses or certifies Private Sewage Disposal Installation Contractors, Private Sewage Disposal Pumping Contractors, Portable Sanitation Businesses, Portable Sanitation Technicians and Technician Trainers opens in a new tab. Installing and pumping are different licences held by different companies.

Anyone who constructs, installs, repairs, modifies or maintains a private sewage disposal system other than one serving their own single family residence must be licensed as an installation contractor opens in a new tab. Anyone who hauls or disposes of the wastes removed must be licensed as a pumping contractor opens in a new tab.

The exemption is narrow and it is about you, not about a handyman. A person who owns and occupies a single family dwelling and works on the system serving that residence is not required to be licensed opens in a new tab. IDPH states that maintenance and repair can only be done by a licensed installation contractor or the homeowner at their primary single family residence opens in a new tab.

Both licences are earned by examination and kept up by date. A licence is obtained upon successfully passing the examinations given for each opens in a new tab, the pumping examination tests knowledge of pumping, hauling and disposing of wastes removed from private sewage disposal systems opens in a new tab, and three hours of continuing education are required before renewal opens in a new tab.

There is one date worth knowing when you are hiring. Installation and pumping contractor licences are renewed by 30 November of each calendar year opens in a new tab, so a licence card shown to you in December belongs to the current year or it has lapsed.

We hold no Illinois register of our own, so no listing here carries a verified credential for this state. IDPH issues both licences, so IDPH or your local health department is where a licence claim gets checked.

Permits, Inspections and Selling a Home

Sources: Illinois General Assembly; Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Checked 2026-09-18.

Approval comes before the machinery. No new private sewage disposal system shall be installed until drawings, specifications and other information requested by the Department are submitted and reviewed opens in a new tab, and plan approval shall be obtained from the Department or local authority prior to beginning any construction opens in a new tab.

Two Illinois specifics are worth writing on the calendar. Whoever constructs, installs, repairs or modifies a system must notify the Department or local authority at least 48 hours before work starts opens in a new tab, and at least three separate percolation tests, a minimum of 50 feet apart, shall be performed at the site of each proposed subsurface seepage system opens in a new tab.

On selling, Illinois works through disclosure rather than a mandatory test. The seller shall deliver the written disclosure report to the prospective buyer before the signing of a contract opens in a new tab, and the seller is not obligated by that Act to make any specific investigation or inquiry to complete the statement opens in a new tab. We found no state rule requiring a septic inspection when a home sells, so an inspection is something a buyer, a lender or a local ordinance asks for.

Keeping a System Working

Sources: Illinois General Assembly, Joint Committee on Administrative Rules; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked 2026-09-18.

Illinois writes a measurement into the code rather than only an interval: a residential septic tank is evaluated prior to or within three years after installation opens in a new tab, and the evaluation determines whether the tank and its compartments have scum and settled solids greater than 33% of the liquid capacity opens in a new tab. An aerobic treatment unit requires evaluation and maintenance at least once every six months opens in a new tab, against the EPA's three year inspection interval for an ordinary system opens in a new tab.

Help Paying for Repairs

Sources: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked 2026-09-18.

Illinois EPA's money is for projects, and it says who may apply. Its programmes provide financial assistance to eligible public or private applicants for the design and construction of projects that protect or improve water quality opens in a new tab. The agency names unsewered communities relying on individual septic systems that often provide inadequate treatment leading to illegal surface discharges opens in a new tab as a target for that work, so a whole-village fix is the shape this funding takes.

For one household, the routes are 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, and grant funds can let a nonprofit create a revolving loan fund for owner occupiers in an eligible rural area opens in a new tab.

Find Your Local Health Department

Illinois septic plan review and inspection is handled by about 90 local health agencies. Each entry below is the office for that county. Checked 2026-09-18.

Questions People Ask