New Jersey septic rules

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP): Division of Water Quality (NJPDES permits and residuals) and solid waste transporter registration; local health departments for single-family septic systems. Local public health departments oversee the location, design, construction, installation, alteration, repair and operation of single-family septic systems under 2,000 gallons per day under N.J.A.C. 7:9A, while NJDEP issues NJPDES permits for larger systems (campgrounds, schools, commercial establishments) and regulates septage haulers as solid waste transporters.

NJDEP says septic tanks should be pumped and inspected by a properly licensed (A-901 licensed) and registered septic hauler holding a valid solid waste transporter registration. NJDEP's transporter guide says septic waste transporters are not required to obtain a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (N.J.S.A. 48:13A-4.1) but are regulated as A-901 licensed solid waste transporters, so a hauler must receive an A-901 license before hauling septic waste. Transporter vehicle registration runs on a two-year cycle under N.J.A.C. 7:26-3.2, and registrants must display their DEP number and vehicle capacity on vehicles in letters at least three inches high (N.J.A.C. 7:26-3.4(h)).

NJDEP's Statewide Sludge Management Plan states that domestic treatment works are the Department's preferred septage management method, that land application of domestic septage is approved only case by case under the NJPDES rules where no reasonable alternative exists and must meet sewage sludge standards, and that NJDEP had not issued any permit for land application of septage, so septage is in practice processed at wastewater treatment plants.

NJDEP's transporter guide (2013 to 2015 edition) says registered solid waste transporters must submit an updated registration statement by May 1 for renewal, notify the Department in writing within 30 days of changes to registration information, and, unless exempt, submit an annual disclosure statement update by November 1 to the A-901 unit in the Attorney General's Office (N.J.A.C. 7:26-3.2). Transporters must also follow the District Solid Waste Management Plan of each county they serve, which may direct waste to specific facilities (N.J.A.C. 7:26-6.12(b)). No septic-specific pumping report to the state was found.

Not confirmed from an official source. Ask the state program linked above, or your county health department.

N.J.A.C. 7:9A (Standards for Individual Subsurface Sewage Disposal Systems); N.J.A.C. 7:14A (NJPDES); N.J.A.C. 7:26-3 (solid waste transporter registration)