New Mexico

Liquid waste permits and property transfer evaluations

Agency New Mexico Environment Department

The Environmental Health Bureau of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) regulates onsite wastewater systems, which New Mexico's rules call on-site liquid waste systems and NMED also calls septic systems. NMED's pages name the unit both the Onsite Wastewater Program and the Onsite Wastewater Bureau. Its rules are the Liquid Waste Disposal rules, 20.7.3 NMAC. The Ground Water Quality Bureau's FAQ says this program covers domestic wastewater sent to a septic system at less than 5,000 gallons a day; larger domestic discharges need a groundwater discharge permit (see Groundwater discharge permits).

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name septic permit records among its standard record sources. In New Mexico they matter because a transfer of property sets off a required evaluation, and the evaluation report is filed with NMED.

A transfer calls for an evaluation. NMED's Property Transfer Evaluations page sets out the rule: under 20.7.3.902.E NMAC, before a property served by an existing on-site liquid waste system changes hands, the person transferring it must have the system evaluated by an evaluator qualified under 20.7.3.904.B NMAC, on a form the department approves.
The report reaches NMED. The same page gives 20.7.3.902.H NMAC, under which the evaluator sends NMED a copy of every evaluation report, finished or not, within 15 days, with GPS coordinates for the treatment unit. NMED charges $50 before it date-stamps the report as received, treats the evaluation report as an official record, and files a copy with the system's permit. Where the evaluation finds deficiencies or permit violations, whoever owns or will own the property on the 15th day after the evaluation must apply for a permit or variance to correct them within 15 days of the evaluation.
An unpermitted system can be registered. Where neither the owner nor NMED can find a permit, NMED treats the system as unpermitted. It may then be registered or permitted if it passes inspection by an NMED inspector or an installer specialist, under conditions that differ for conventional systems installed or modified before and after February 1, 2002 (20.7.3.401.J and K NMAC).
Some systems carry ongoing duties. For advanced treatment systems and holding tanks, NMED says the new owner must amend the permit for the change of ownership and file a maintenance and sampling contract in the new owner's name. The same page's section on permit transfers also names alternative disposal systems, and says new owners submit an operating permit renewal application.

For a property on a septic system, ask whether the permit file holds the property transfer evaluation, and whether the system was ever found unpermitted.

Where to look a site up

NMED's Find an Existing Liquid Waste Permit page is the way in to the Liquid Waste Permit Database. NMED requires anyone who wants to search it to first accept the conditions of NMSA 1978 14-3-15.1. One of those conditions is that the database not be used for a political or commercial purpose unless NMED approves the use in writing. Read the conditions before searching on a client's behalf.
NMED's Property Transfer Evaluations page says its do-it-yourself search covers the permits of systems installed before 2017, and that for systems installed in 2017 or later you must contact the local field office. NMED's Maps and Data page labels the same search as pre-January 27, 2017.
The other route NMED gives is its Liquid Waste Permit Search Request form, filled in completely and sent to the local field office, which then searches. NMED says a permit search can take up to 10 days and should be started early, and that an incomplete request form can produce a false finding of no permit.
The field offices are listed on NMED's Office Locations page, and the program links its own contacts page.

Getting the file

NMED says that once you have a permit number, you ask the local field office for a copy of the permit file. NMED also takes records requests under the Inspection of Public Records Act through its Public Records Requests page: by its online portal, which needs no account, by mail to P.O. Box 5469, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502, or by telephone at (505) 827-2855. The Public records requests page here gives what a request must hold and the fees.

Sources

New Mexico Environment Department pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: