Vermont
Wastewater Systems and Potable Water Supplies permits
The Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has staff in five regional offices that regulate wastewater systems and potable water supplies, including potable (non-public) water. DEC's home page offers a septic system search to retrieve individual septic system plans and permits.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name septic system or water supply permits among its standard record sources. They still matter where a property is not on public sewer or water: look up the system's plans and permits before the site visit. DEC's Underground Injection Control page links the same search address as its public search site for UIC documentation; see Underground Injection Control (UIC).
What the search does not hold
DEC says its long-term goal is to make all the division's public documents on homeowner septic systems and water supplies available through the search. The page says some records will not be found there:
- some older documents, which are currently only on microfilm and so will not appear in the search results;
- a permit that has not been issued, or one with an associated exemption;
- a determination that is not available on the public search site.
If you cannot find the permit you are looking for, DEC says to contact staff at the appropriate regional office for guidance on how to proceed.
Where to look a site up
- DEC's Wastewater Systems and Potable Water Supplies Program Permits page links the Wastewater Systems & Potable Water Supplies Permit Search Page and a search guide.
- The Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection page links the five regional offices.
Getting the file
For a permit the search does not show, DEC says to contact the appropriate regional office. The pages read do not give a separate records request route for these permits. DEC's pages link, in their footer, Request public information and Department of Environmental Conservation Records Liaisons, both on the Agency of Natural Resources' public records page, which this handbook did not read.
Sources
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: