Chesterfield County, Virginia septic permits and requirements

Permitting authority

Virginia Department of Health — Chesterfield Health District, Environmental Health Onsite Sewage & Well Water Program

Chesterfield Health District Environmental Health Services; 804-748-1691; [email protected]. The district accepts onsite sewage applications, inspection requests, complaints, and records requests.

Virginia permitting framework

Virginia Department of Health regulates onsite sewage disposal through local health districts and works with licensed private-sector Onsite Soil Evaluators and Professional Engineers. The application path depends on whether the project is new construction, a repair, modification, voluntary upgrade, certification request, or review of an existing system. County building and zoning approvals remain separate from the VDH onsite-sewage approval.

The local health district issues onsite sewage permits

The Chesterfield Health District states that its onsite sewage and well program offers permits for private wells, sewage systems, and sewage disposal and investigates reports of raw sewage or groundwater contamination. This is the local VDH program for septic permitting and related environmental-health review.

Private-sector OSE or PE documentation is part of the normal permit path

The district publishes construction-permit, certification-letter, repair, voluntary-upgrade, and safe-adequate-and-proper application categories that use documentation from a licensed Onsite Soil Evaluator or Professional Engineer. Applicants should use the current VDH application and local district instructions for the proposed work.

New construction and repairs are separate permit categories

Chesterfield Health District distinguishes a construction permit for an onsite sewage system from a repair permit and from a voluntary upgrade. The published fee table also separates systems at or below 1,000 gallons per day from larger systems, so applicants should identify the correct project category rather than assuming one application covers all septic work.

Inspection and complaint functions remain with Environmental Health

The district accepts requests for inspections and inspection reports through Environmental Health Services and investigates sewage-disposal complaints. Property owners should keep permitted work available for the required inspection and coordinate any field changes through the approving professionals and Health District.

Official sources

SepticScope summarizes public-agency information for planning purposes. The permitting agency's current instructions control if they differ from this guide.