Kentucky septic rules
Septic pumping rules in Kentucky.
Kentucky requires a state license or permit to pump or haul septage. Below: who regulates, what pumpers have to keep, and where to find the official forms. Checked against official sources on October 8, 2026.
The rules
What a pumper in Kentucky should know.
A guide, not legal advice. Counties and local health departments can add their own rules on top of the state's, so check with the county where the system is.
- Who regulates septic systemsState and local
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Public Health, Onsite Sewage Disposal Systems Program. The Onsite Sewage Disposal Systems Program is administered through local health departments, which do site evaluations and inspections, while the Cabinet issues the septic tank servicing business license.
The state program- Pumper and hauler licensingState license
Under 902 KAR 10:170, a septic tank servicing business must apply annually to the Cabinet on form DFS-306 before March 1, with a $150 business license fee, a $50 vehicle license fee per vehicle paid to the local health department, and a $5,000 surety bond; renewals received after April 1 owe a $100 late fee. Vehicle licenses must be displayed and are not transferable between vehicles. The Cabinet inspects vehicles, equipment and septage storage locations at least once each calendar year.
Licensing details- Where septage can go
Septage may be disposed of only at a Cabinet-approved permitted site, treatment facility, or a registered farm disposing of less than 2,000 gallons of its own septage per year (902 KAR 10:170 Sec. 3). Operators must keep written authorization from the landowner or facility in each vehicle, meet application-rate limits, not dispose on snow covered or frozen ground, and have storage for three times the largest truck. Grease alone may not be land applied. Disposal sites are permitted under 902 KAR 10:150 and 10:160.
Disposal rules- Records and reports
Operators must give each customer an invoice showing customer name, location, date, gallons of septage and grease removed, vehicle license number, business name and address, the signed name of the vehicle operator, and the disposal site, and keep invoices and business records for five years. Land application records (site, acres, date, rate, pathogen and vector reduction certification) are also required (902 KAR 10:170 Sec. 3).
Reporting rules- Inspections
Not confirmed from an official source. Ask the state program linked above, or your county health department.
- The rule book
902 KAR 10:170 (Septic tank servicing); 902 KAR 10:150 and 10:160 (domestic septage disposal sites); 902 KAR 10:085 (onsite systems); KRS 211.970 to 211.981
Official forms
Get the forms from the source.
We link to the state's own pages instead of keeping copies, because forms change. Your county may use its own forms as well, and those are the ones an inspector will expect.
In PortaPro
Upload your county's form once. Fill it from every job.
- Your form, filled from the job
Upload the current PDF from your county or the state, place the fields on it, and bind them to job data. Each pump-out fills it with the customer, site, tank, gallons pumped and technician, and you download a finished PDF.
How Regulatory Forms works- Service reports on the driver's phone
Every account comes with a septic inspection checklist and a pumping service report with gallons pumped and a disposal manifest. Drivers fill them on site and they are filed with the job.
PortaPro for septic companies- Prefer paper for now
Print our free septic pumping service report. It has the fields most programs ask for.
Free septic service report
Questions
Do I need a license to pump septic tanks in Kentucky?
Kentucky requires a state license or permit to pump or haul septage. Under 902 KAR 10:170, a septic tank servicing business must apply annually to the Cabinet on form DFS-306 before March 1, with a $150 business license fee, a $50 vehicle license fee per vehicle paid to the local health department, and a $5,000 surety bond; renewals received after April 1 owe a $100 late fee. Vehicle licenses must be displayed and are not transferable between vehicles. The Cabinet inspects vehicles, equipment and septage storage locations at least once each calendar year.
Where do I get Kentucky septic forms?
From the state's own pages, linked on this page. Many counties and local health departments use their own forms on top of the state's, so check with the county where the system is too.
Does PortaPro come with Kentucky forms built in?
No. Forms change, and counties use their own, so PortaPro doesn't ship copies. You upload the current PDF from your county or state once, place the fields on it, and PortaPro fills it from each job: customer, site, tank, gallons pumped and technician. When the agency updates its form, you upload the new one.
How current is this page?
We read the official sources listed at the bottom on October 8, 2026. Rules and forms change, so treat this as a starting point and confirm with the agency before you rely on it. This is not legal advice.
Sources
Official pages we read on .
Other states
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Keep the county's paperwork with the job.
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