Kitsap County septic records: how to find a property's file

Under Washington's on-site sewage rules, the local health officer keeps each system's record drawings on file with its approved design.² In Kitsap County that's the Health District, at 345 6th Street, Suite 300, Bremerton, WA 98337, phone 360-728-2235. Its office is open Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m..¹

The Health District's septic records search covers both septic and drinking water records, and its public records page sends you to the same search for septic maintenance reports.¹ You'll need the property's street address, its tax account number or both.³

Call the Health District at 360-728-2235 and ask for a records search. For an older property, the street addresses it used to have and the names of former owners can help.³

You can also submit a public records request. Records can be inspected at the office at a time you agree on, or copied after you pay a copying fee, and records kept electronically can be emailed. Records already online should be looked up online. The Health District has to answer a request in some way within five business days, though gathering the records can take days or weeks, and the more precisely you describe what you want, the faster it goes. Its Public Records Officer is at 360-728-2232.¹

When no record is found, a record drawing has to be created.³ You don't have to hire a contractor for it. Anyone can draw it, as long as it meets the requirements.⁴ The Health District's instructions ask for a drawing to scale, on paper from 8 1/2 by 11 inches up to 11 by 17 inches, showing:⁵

• a north arrow, the scale used, and the property lines with their measurements;
• buildings and other structures within 100 feet of the septic system, with the number of bedrooms in each home;
• the septic tanks and the known or estimated drainfields, drywells or seepage pits, drawn at about their real size;
• wells, water lines and any salt water, lakes or streams within 100 feet of the system;
• the owner, site address and tax account number, and who drew it and when.

The Health District has required a property conveyance evaluation when a home with a septic system is sold since 2008. It asks owners to search the records before they apply for it. Its report includes the record of the system's approval (when it was approved, and the type and size), whether it's working and has been maintained, and whether it complies with the rules in force when it was installed.³ Under the state rule, a seller also has to give the buyer all the system's maintenance and repair records they have.⁶