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State guide

Septic companies in Iowa

Iowa's point of sale septic rule has real teeth: a building served by a private sewage disposal system has to be inspected before ownership transfers, and the county recorder will not record the deed until the report is filed. Your county board of health permits and inspects the work, DNR sets the standards and certifies the inspectors. This guide covers the transfer inspection and its exemptions, the two state credentials, and the loans Iowa makes to individuals.

Companies
145
Counties
65
With Google reviews
51

Who Regulates Septic Systems in Iowa

Sources: Iowa Legislature; Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Checked 2026-09-18.

Iowa splits this cleanly. The Department of Natural Resources holds the state responsibility and sets the minimum standards, and your county board of health regulates, permits and enforces on the ground. The rules give both of them one name, which is worth recognising on a form.

The department shall carry out the responsibilities of the state related to private water supplies and private sewage disposal systems opens in a new tab, and each county board of health shall regulate the private water supply and private sewage disposal facilities located within its jurisdiction opens in a new tab. Two bodies, one subject, and the county is the one you deal with.

Administrative authority means the department or the local county board of health opens in a new tab, so when a rule says administrative authority, the body you will be dealing with is your county board of health. Local boards of health have primary responsibility for regulation of private sewage disposal systems opens in a new tab, and the county boards or environmental health departments are responsible for enforcement of the septic regulations and inspections opens in a new tab.

Licenses and What to Check Before You Hire

Sources: Iowa Legislature; Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Checked 2026-09-18.

Iowa's two state credentials cover inspecting and pumping, and they are different instruments. The time of transfer inspector is certified by DNR and the pumper is licensed by DNR, and both matter to a homeowner at different moments.

The inspector's certification is the one that decides whether you can sell. Only a certified inspector may conduct a time-of-transfer inspection opens in a new tab, and the department shall maintain a publicly available list of currently certified inspectors on its internet site opens in a new tab.

Getting that certification takes experience as well as a course. A certified inspector shall have met the experience requirements and successfully completed the inspection course opens in a new tab, and to be certified by taking the course and examination only, an individual must have at least two years' experience in the operation, installation, inspection, design or maintenance of these systems opens in a new tab.

Pumping is a licence and it is not optional. A person shall not commercially clean such facilities or dispose of waste from them unless licensed by the department opens in a new tab, commercial septic tank and toilet unit cleaners must annually apply for and obtain that licence before engaging in the business opens in a new tab, and septic tanks in Iowa must be pumped out only by a licensed commercial septic tank cleaner opens in a new tab.

The person who reads your soil is decided locally rather than by a state roster. The soil characteristics and permeability of a site shall be determined by a percolation test or a soil analysis, and the administrative authority decides who is qualified to do it opens in a new tab.

We hold no Iowa register of our own, so no listing here carries a verified credential for this state. For an inspector, DNR's published list is the check, and for a pumper it is the DNR licence, which is the one to ask about before a truck arrives.

Permits, Inspections and Selling a Home

Sources: Iowa Legislature; Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Checked 2026-09-18.

No system shall be installed or altered unless a construction permit issued by the administrative authority is obtained opens in a new tab, and the administrative authority shall conduct an at-location inspection of all newly constructed systems before the system is backfilled opens in a new tab. That inspection is the one chance anyone has to see the work.

The rule that shapes a sale here is in the state code rather than in a local ordinance. If a building where a person resides, congregates or is employed is served by a private sewage disposal system, the system shall be inspected prior to any transfer of ownership of the building opens in a new tab. DNR calls it the Time of Transfer inspection law opens in a new tab.

What gives it teeth is who enforces it. The county recorder shall not record a deed or any other property transfer or conveyance document until a certified inspector's report is filed opens in a new tab, and it also appears on the groundwater hazard statement, which declares whether a system exists and whether it has been inspected opens in a new tab. Transfer is defined to cover sale, exchange, real estate contract or any other method opens in a new tab.

Two things follow that are worth knowing before you list. A system failing to ensure effective wastewater treatment, or otherwise improperly functioning, shall be renovated opens in a new tab, and a transfer of property with a system installed not more than two years before the transfer is exempt opens in a new tab. The subsection preempts any city or county ordinance on septic inspection at transfer opens in a new tab, so this is the only such rule you have to satisfy.

Keeping a System Working

Sources: Iowa Department of Natural Resources; Iowa Legislature; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked 2026-09-18.

Iowa's own advice is the tighter end of the federal range: to ensure the long term functioning of a system the septic tank should be pumped out every 3 to 5 years, given normal household water usage opens in a new tab, against the EPA's inspection at least every three years opens in a new tab. A proprietary treatment system is on a firmer footing: it shall be inspected, monitored and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications and third party certification, or at least annually opens in a new tab.

Help Paying for Repairs

Sources: Iowa Department of Natural Resources; Iowa Legislature; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Checked 2026-09-18.

Iowa lends to households directly, which is worth knowing before you take a commercial loan. Funding is available for loans to individuals to replace inadequate private sewage disposal systems opens in a new tab.

The money moves through your own bank rather than through the state. Assistance shall be in the form of low interest loans made by participating lending institutions through a linked deposit arrangement opens in a new tab, so ask your lender whether it participates.

Two federal routes sit alongside it. Grant funds may be used to help a nonprofit create a revolving loan fund for eligible individuals who own and occupy a home in an eligible rural area opens in a new tab, while individual homeowners are not eligible to receive 319 grant assistance directly opens in a new tab.

Find Your County Environmental Health Office

Iowa septic permits and inspections come from the county board of health or environmental health department, which the rules call the administrative authority. The name varies widely: sanitation, water and sanitation, building and zoning, public works and district health all appear below. Each entry is the office for that county. Checked 2026-09-18.

CountyEnvironmental health office
BooneBoone County Health & Sanitation opens in a new tabBoone is one of the Iowa counties that does not use the words environmental health: the department page at /health_sanitation/ calls itself the Health and Sanitation Department, the breadcrumb on this page reads Boone County Health & Sanitation, and the staff contact is the Boone County Sanitarian. Its own list of duties on /health_sanitation/ begins with septic system permitting and inspection. Time of transfer forms go to the Boone County Recorder, not to this office. · Boone County page
BremerBuilding Zoning & Environmental Health opens in a new tabThe h1 on the department's own index page reads Building Zoning & Environmental Health while the URL path is still building_zoning_sanitation. This is the best time of transfer page found in Iowa: the county explains that the sale may proceed once a Bremer County permit is issued for the repairs, that the buyer and seller may negotiate who pays, and that a weather delay needs a binding acknowledgement from the Bremer County Board of Health, which the county warns it may refuse if the inspection could have been done at listing. Exceptions for foreclosure, parent to child transfers, divorce and estates are referred to Bremer County Environmental Health. · Bremer County page
ClarkeClarke County Sanitation Office opens in a new tabClarke has no standing septic page. The county's Public Health page carries one line, Environmental Health Services may be reached at 641-203-7217, and no prose. The only body text on the county site about private sewage is this April 2026 ordinance hearing notice, which names the office as the Clarke County Sanitation Office and the officer as Sanitation Administrator David Rhodes at the same 641-203-7217 number, so the two labels are one office. The notice also says the ordinance covers time of transfer binding agreements. Being a dated post, it may be archived off the front page later; the office and phone are the durable facts. · Clarke County page
DelawareDelaware County Water and Sanitation Department opens in a new tabAnother Iowa county whose office is not called health: it is the Water and Sanitation Department, sometimes shortened to Water & Sanitation on the same page. The page states the county adopted and enforces Chapter 69 of the Iowa Administrative Code and also runs the private well testing and well permit programme. The page footer carries a 2009 to 2022 copyright, so the content is not freshly maintained even though it serves. · Delaware County page
Des MoinesEnvironmental Division of the Des Moines County Public Health Department opens in a new tabThe quote is the opening of a sentence that continues through food, water, and other environmental exposures; it was cut to stay inside the 35 word limit. The septic material on the page is a bullet list (plan review and site approval, issue permits, inspection of new and reconstructed systems) rather than prose, which is why the quote is the division description. Note for the wrong-county trap: this is Des Moines COUNTY in the southeast corner at Burlington, not the city of Des Moines, which is in Polk County. The county also runs a separate Board of Health site at dmcountyboardofhealth.iowa.gov, which carries no septic content. · Des Moines County page
JacksonJackson County Environmental Health opens in a new tabThe department landing page says it is staffed by one person and that appointments are required, and gives an after hours onsite wastewater and private well emergency number. The county also publishes a good time of transfer page at /environmental_health/time_of_transfer/ explaining that a system with a working secondary treatment device does not have to meet current code to pass. Registered septic installers must be chosen from a list inside the county's own permit application. · Jackson County page
JohnsonJohnson County Public Health opens in a new tab · Johnson County page
KossuthKossuth County Sanitarian opens in a new tabKossuth names the office after the officer rather than after a department: the page is simply Sanitarian. Its listed duties include wastewater treatment and disposal systems, and the county's Ordinance 413 Sanitary Sewer and a copy of IAC 567 Chapter 69 are linked from this page as PDFs. There is no HTML septic page, so the quote is the office description. Kossuth is Iowa's largest county by land area, which the same site states. · Kossuth County page
LinnLinn County Public Health opens in a new tabThe office is Linn County Public Health and the septic work sits inside its On-site Wastewater Program. The page says LCPH provides code enforcement consultation for design, construction and maintenance of private sewage disposal systems and monitors time of transfer inspections, and links the county's own Code for Private Sewage Disposal Systems. Host note: use linncountyiowa.gov. The vanity name linncounty.iowa.gov resolves to 208.90.191.76 in the CivicPlus range that refuses TCP from this box, while linncountyiowa.gov is on Azure and serves normally. · Linn County page
MarionMarion County Department of Public Health opens in a new tabNot on a .gov host. marionph.org is proved to be this county's own health department because the county government site marioncountyiowa.gov links Public Health to https://www.marionph.org and Environmental Health to https://marionph.org/environmental-health/ from its own Departments menu, and the site titles itself Marion County Department of Public Health. The page describes Environmental Health as an education and enforcement branch of the Public Health Department, and says pool and tattoo inspections are done under contract for the state.
PagePage County Environmental Health opens in a new tabThe most concrete county page in this set. It states its own time of transfer rule in the county's words, prices the work (percolation test $350.00, septic permit $225.00, transfer inspection $225.00), says the transfer inspection also looks for old solid waste dumping sites, and says there is no requirement to upgrade unless there is an illegal discharge or other evidence of non-compliance. Prices were current at the date checked and will move. · Page County page
PolkPolk County Public Works, Environmental Health Services Division opens in a new tabPolk is the one in this set that does not sit under a health department at all: Environmental Health Services is a section of the Planning and Development Division of Polk County Public Works, alongside Building, Code Enforcement and Planning & Zoning. The separate Polk County Health Department publishes nothing on septic. Important jurisdiction line from the same page: Polk County has jurisdiction throughout the County except for the City of Des Moines. The page also says only contractors holding an annual professional licence with the division may work on systems, except for abandonments, which anyone may permit. · Polk County page
StoryStory County Environmental Health Department opens in a new tabThis is the clearest statement in the set of the Iowa arrangement the state sources describe: the department is the operating arm and the Board of Health is the jurisdiction. Its listed services are septic permits for construction and alteration, time of transfer inspection report REVIEWS (the inspection itself is done by a DNR certified inspector, not by the county), water and vertical geothermal well permits, pools, tattoo establishments and animal confinement master matrix review. The page also flags new septic tank pumping requirements in Story County. Host note: use storycountyiowa.gov, not storycounty.iowa.gov, which resolves into the blocked 208.90.191.x range. · Story County page
WarrenWarren County Environmental Health opens in a new tabThis page says Warren County Environmental Health is the primary contact for septic system permitting and inspections, and that systems must comply with IAC 567 Chapter 69 and Warren County Ordinance Chapter 31. The department's own page at /government/public-safety/health-services/environmental-health/ adds that it is an agency of the Warren County Board of Health, was founded in 1973, and covers the entire county including non-rural property. Contact is envhealth@warrencountyia.org. · Warren County page
WoodburySiouxland District Health Department opens in a new tab · Woodbury County page

Questions People Ask

Do I need a septic inspection to sell a house in Iowa?

Yes. Iowa Code requires the system serving a building where a person resides, congregates or is employed to be inspected before any transfer of ownership. The county recorder will not record the deed until a certified inspector's report is filed, so it is not a step you can skip.

Who can do that inspection?

Only a DNR certified time of transfer inspector. To be certified by course and exam alone an individual needs at least two years of experience in operating, installing, inspecting, designing or maintaining these systems, and DNR publishes a list of current inspectors on its website.

My system is brand new. Do I still need one?

There is an exemption for a transfer of property with a system installed not more than two years before the transfer. If your system is older than that, the inspection applies.

What happens if it fails?

A system failing to ensure effective wastewater treatment, or otherwise improperly functioning, has to be renovated. That obligation can sit with the seller or, by agreement, with the buyer within a time the county sets.

Does my city have its own rule on top?

No. The state provision preempts any city or county ordinance about inspecting a private sewage disposal system in connection with a transfer, so the state rule is the one to satisfy.

Sources

Cities in Iowa

  • Des Moines 5
  • Ames 4
  • Cedar Rapids 4
  • Council Bluffs 4
  • Sioux City 4
  • Burlington 3
  • Osceola 3
  • Riverside 3
  • Boone 2
  • Dubuque 2
  • Indianola 2
  • Jesup 2
  • Lamoni 2
  • Marshalltown 2
  • Perry 2
  • Pleasant Hill 2
  • Waukon 2
  • Waverly 2
  • Algona 1
  • Barnum 1
  • Belle Plaine 1
  • Bloomfield 1
  • Calamus 1
  • Camanche 1
  • Carlisle 1
  • Cedar Falls 1
  • Centerville 1
  • Charles City 1
  • Cherokee 1
  • Clarinda 1
  • Clear Lake 1
  • College Springs 1
  • Corning 1
  • Corydon 1
  • Dallas Center 1
  • Dexter 1
  • Dundee 1
  • Dyersville 1
  • Epworth 1
  • Fairfield 1
  • Fort Dodge 1
  • Fredericksburg 1
  • Fremont 1
  • Garwin 1
  • Glenwood 1
  • Grimes 1
  • Griswold 1
  • Hawkeye 1
  • Hubbard 1
  • Hudson 1
  • Kalona 1
  • Knoxville 1
  • La Porte City 1
  • Le Mars 1
  • Lidderdale 1
  • Lime Springs 1
  • Lone Rock 1
  • Lucas 1
  • Manchester 1
  • Marengo 1
  • Marion 1
  • Mechanicsville 1
  • Monroe 1
  • Morrison 1
  • Neola 1
  • New Vienna 1
  • Newell 1
  • Newton 1
  • Nichols 1
  • Norwalk 1
  • Onawa 1
  • Otho 1
  • Robins 1
  • Schaller 1
  • Scotch Grove 1
  • Shenandoah 1
  • Solon 1
  • Spencer 1
  • Titonka 1
  • Vail 1
  • Villisca 1
  • Vinton 1
  • Walcott 1
  • Walker 1
  • Waterloo 1
  • Wilton 1
  • Winterset 1
  • Woodward 1

Counties in Iowa

How these are ranked

By verification score, out of 100, across six checks published in full on how we rank. No company paid to appear and none can pay to rank higher. The score counts records and is not a judgment about workmanship.