Finding septic records in Whatcom County, Washington

The county's online files hold:¹

• approved on-site sewage permits (septic permits);
• Reports of System Status, the inspection reports known as ROSS;
• approved water availability forms, for wells and other water sources;
• plats.

Applications and permits that haven't been approved yet aren't online.¹

1. Find your property ID or parcel number. On the Whatcom County Assessor's Real Property Search, choose "Property Address" as the search type, type the street address and search. The results show both the property ID and the GeoID, or parcel number.
2. Search the records. Enter either number in the county's online septic records search.¹

The search tool tells you when there's nothing online. The office may still have records for the property: call Health and Community Services at 360-778-6000, or email environmentalhealth@co.whatcom.wa.us, and staff can check its files and send you what it has.¹ Records requests of other kinds go through the county's public records request page.

The ROSS reports in the files come from the evaluations the county requires:²

• a conventional gravity system every 3 years;
• every other type of system once a year, unless its manufacturer says more often;
• any system serving a food service business once a year.

When a property is offered for sale, a current ROSS has to be on file with Health and Community Services. A homeowner can take the county's free training and evaluate their own system in some cases, but not for a sale or property transfer. Those evaluations are done by a professional licensed by the county as an Operations and Maintenance Specialist.²

If you're not sure what kind of system you have, the county's number is 360-778-6000.²