La Plata County septic systems can need a continued-use permit at sale

Outside Durango and the small towns of the Animas valley, plenty of homes sit too far from a sewer line to ever join one. They rely on a septic system buried in the yard, known in the rules as an on-site wastewater treatment system, or OWTS. That backyard tank is also a public health matter, and it has its own paperwork.

La Plata County Public Health is the agency in charge of these systems. A permit is required to build, alter, or repair one. The detail that surprises people comes at the moment of sale: a property served by an OWTS may need a Continued Use Permit before it changes owners.

Most homes on septic must be inspected before they sell, and the continued-use process has replaced the older transfer-of-title language. So a sale can hinge on the condition of a tank no one has looked at in years. If the system is old, unpermitted, patched together, or sized for a use the house outgrew, that history surfaces during the inspection rather than after closing.

If you are listing a rural home or weighing an offer on one, find out early whether it runs on septic and pull the existing permit. Where the record is thin or the system looks tired, a call to La Plata County Public Health spells out what an inspection and a Continued Use Permit will require before the deal can close.