Onsite Sewage System Regulation Update

Background

The Kitsap Public Health District has had local Onsite Sewage (Septic) System regulations since 1961. The current regulation is Kitsap Public Health District Ordinance 2008A-01, Onsite Sewage System and General Sewage Sanitation Regulations. The current ordinance must be revised due to changes to Chapter 246-272A Washington Administrative Code (WAC), Onsite Sewage Systems. The state rule was adopted by the Washington State Board of Health in January 2024. The majority of changes will take effect April 1, 2025. Our local ordinance must be revised to be consistent with the revised WAC.

Proposed Changes

Since January 2024, we have worked with our local OSS technical advisory committee (TAC) to incorporate state rule changes and local changes to clarify or address common issues with the existing rules. With the TAC’s help, we prepared a new draft ordinance and summary of changes:

• Draft 2025 Kitsap OSS Ordinance

• Summary of proposed changes

• Current Kitsap OSS ordinance

• Revised state WAC

We provided an update on the ordinance revision process at the Oct. 1, 2024 Kitsap Public Health Board meeting. Find meeting materials here.

Questions and comments

You can send questions or comments regarding the draft ordinance to john.kiess@kitsappublichealth.org.

Listening Session

You can also provide comments on the draft ordinance during a listening session scheduled for 5-6 p.m., Oct. 29. You can join the session in person in the Chambers room of the Norm Dicks Government Center, 345 6th Street, Bremerton, or by Zoom.

Next Steps

A working draft of the revised ordinance will be submitted to the Washington State Department of Health for review before the end of 2024.

Revisions to the OSS ordinance will be brought to the Health Board in early 2025 for a public hearing and consideration of adoption.