Sourced from the text of OAR chapter 340, divisions 071 and 073 as compiled by DEQ, DEQ’s onsite program fact sheet, DEQ’s Rulemaking Calendar dated July 7, 2026, and Oregon Revised Statutes chapters 454 and 105 — last checked August 2026.
We are an independent consumer-information site. We are not DEQ, not a county, and not a health district, and nothing here is legal advice. Where our sources leave something unconfirmed, we say so rather than smoothing it over.
The timeline, and why almost everything online is out of date
Oregon does not let counties write their own septic codes. There is one statewide technical code — OAR chapter 340, divisions 071 and 073 — and it applies identically whether your permit comes from DEQ or from a contract county acting as DEQ’s agent. That means a single rewrite changes the rules for every property in the state at once.
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Public hearing | May 19, 2025 |
| EQC adoption | September 11, 2025 |
| Filed | October 1, 2025 |
| Effective | January 1, 2026 |
The rewrite was driven by two bills from the 2023 session: SB 835, on accessory dwelling units, and SB 931, on sewer availability. Those are the legislative drivers our sources name. We would caution that the detail underneath them is not equally solid: DEQ’s plain-language summary refers to accessory dwelling unit design flows of 300 and 750 gallons per day, but we have not verified those numbers against the rule text, and the sewer-availability distances that circulate (200 feet for a repair, 300 feet for a new system, with a written statement from the municipality) come with a rule number we could not confirm — they are not in OAR 340-071-0130. Treat both as unconfirmed until you have them from the agent handling your permit.
Paragraph numbers moved, and that breaks citations
This sounds like housekeeping. It is not. A definition was inserted for “Accessory Dwelling Unit” at position (5) in the definitions rule, and everything below it shifted down by one. “Failing system” was definition (65); it is now (66). In OAR 340-071-0130, the permit requirement that used to sit at subsection (15)(a) is now at (14)(a).
The consequence is that any letter, checklist, contractor quote or web article citing an old paragraph number now points at the wrong paragraph — and in a rule with more than twenty subsections, the wrong paragraph often still reads plausibly. If someone quotes a subsection number at you, ask which edition of the rules they are reading from. Our own practice on this site is to cite the rule — OAR 340-071-0130, OAR 340-071-0132 — and to say plainly where we have not been able to confirm the numbering inside it against the January 1, 2026 text.
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OAR 340-071-0132: the new maintenance-contract rule
This rule did not exist before January 1, 2026. The old division ran straight from 0130 to 0135; roughly six pages were inserted in the gap. Every article written before 2026 — and every page generated from a pre-2026 copy of the rules — is working from a rule list that does not contain it.
The rule requires certain system owners to hold a maintenance contract with a maintenance provider. What makes it awkward in practice is that it applies three different tests in a single sentence, and the third has no date at all.
| System type | Contract duty applies if… |
|---|---|
| Pressurized distribution; residential sand filter | permitted after January 1, 2014 |
| Commercial sand filter | on or after March 1, 2005 |
| Recirculating gravel filter; alternative treatment technology | all of them, regardless of installation date |
So a residential sand filter permitted in 2010 carries no contract duty under this rule, while the identical system permitted in 2015 does. The date on your permit, not the equipment in your ground, decides it.
Two further points from the rule text. Contracts “must be perpetual and continuous”, and the provider must inspect and service the system “at least once every 12 months”. “Perpetual and continuous” is doing real work: an owner who dismisses one provider and spends three months shopping for another has a gap, and a gap is a breach. Line the new contract up before the old one ends.
There is also a charge most owners never see as a charge. The rule puts the annual report evaluation fee on the maintenance provider rather than on the owner, so it reaches you inside the price of the service contract rather than as a visible government fee.
“Major maintenance”: the exemption turns on who holds the shovel
New in the same package. Major maintenance — repairing or replacing a broken distribution box or drop box, or a broken or plugged effluent sewer pipe — is exempt from the permit requirement, but only when a certified maintenance provider or a certified installer performs the work. DEQ’s fact sheet puts it plainly: major maintenance now includes replacing distribution or drop boxes when performed by a certified installer, without a separate permit, “though property owner work still needs one”.
Identical task, identical component, same broken box: permit or no permit, depending entirely on who does it. If you are weighing doing it yourself against paying someone certified, the permit is part of the comparison.
The failure-reporting duty got narrower
In the pre-2026 rules, the duty to report a failure sat inside OAR 340-071-0130. The January 1, 2026 version of 0130 has 23 subsections and, on our reading, contains no failure-reporting duty at all. The duty now appears in the new maintenance rule, at 0132, in the form of an obligation to report evidence of any system failures to the certified maintenance provider and the agent.
That placement matters, because 0132 binds only the system classes in the table above. On our reading, an owner of a plain gravity system still has the general duty in OAR 340-071-0120(2) — each owner of real property is jointly and severally responsible for treating the wastewater generated there and for maintaining, repairing and replacing the system — and the duty in OAR 340-071-0215 to have a failing system immediately repaired. But no express rule duty to notify anyone.
One thing worth keeping in view: where Oregon does require reporting, it names two recipients — the certified maintenance provider and the agent. “Agent” in these rules means whoever runs the program where you live: DEQ staff in Curry, Jackson and Josephine counties, and contract county staff everywhere else.
Nothing further is pending
This is the part that is easy to check and rarely stated. DEQ’s Rulemaking Calendar dated July 7, 2026 lists thirteen rulemakings, and none of them touches division 71 or division 73. As at that date, there was no successor package in the pipeline. The rules that took effect on January 1, 2026 are the rules now, and there is no announced change to wait for.
That does not mean everything published about them is current. DEQ’s onsite program fees rose 33 percent on July 1, 2026, and as at August 15, 2026 the fee table still posted at DEQ’s canonical address stated on its face that it ran from August 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 and took effect on July 1, 2021. We found no post-July-2026 statewide fee table published anywhere. If you are budgeting from a downloaded schedule, check its effective date before you trust the numbers.
What we could not confirm
In the interests of not laundering uncertainty into confidence, here is what remains open on the material above:
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| Accessory dwelling unit design flows (300 / 750 gpd) | From DEQ’s plain-language summary only; rule text not verified |
| Sewer availability distances and the municipal written statement | Rule number not confirmed; not found in 0130 |
| Narrowed failure-reporting duty | Our reading of the 2026 text; not independently verified |
| OAR 340-071-0215 (immediate repair, emergency repairs) | Read from a pre-2026 cache; not verified against January 1, 2026 |
| Definition numbers for repair, maintenance and public health hazard | Numbering unconfirmed against the January 1, 2026 text |
| Statewide fee tables after July 1, 2026 | Not published anywhere we could find |
Common questions
Do the 2026 changes apply to my existing system, or only to new ones?
It depends on the provision. The maintenance-contract rule at OAR 340-071-0132 uses permit dates: a residential sand filter or pressurized distribution system permitted after January 1, 2014 is caught, and every recirculating gravel filter and alternative treatment technology system is caught regardless of when it was installed. The permit-exemption change for major maintenance turns on who does the work, not on the age of the system.
My county has different septic rules, doesn’t it?
No. Oregon runs one statewide technical code — OAR chapter 340, divisions 071 and 073 — and counties do not write their own septic codes. DEQ issues permits directly in Curry, Jackson and Josephine counties; in Oregon’s other 33 counties DEQ has contracts with local jurisdictions to do the permitting. What varies between counties is which office you apply to and what it charges, not the technical standard.
An article cites “OAR 340-071-0130(15)(a)”. Is it wrong?
It is out of date. That provision is now at 0130(14)(a). The shift happened because a new definition was inserted higher up in the division, moving the numbering below it. The safest approach is to cite the rule number and check the subsection against DEQ’s compiled edition of the January 1, 2026 text rather than against an undated mirror.
Can I replace a broken distribution box myself without a permit?
On our reading of the rule, no. The major-maintenance exemption applies when a certified maintenance provider or certified installer performs the work; DEQ’s fact sheet states that property owner work still needs a permit. Before doing the work either way, confirm with the office that issues permits where you live.
Is another rule change coming?
Not as at July 7, 2026. DEQ’s Rulemaking Calendar of that date lists thirteen rulemakings and none of them touches division 71 or division 73. We re-check that calendar periodically; the date at the top of this page tells you when we last did.
Who do I ask if this page does not answer my question?
The office that administers the rules where your property is. For Curry, Jackson and Josephine counties that is DEQ’s Medford office at 221 Stewart Avenue, Suite 201, Medford 97501, 541-776-6010, which is appointment only. For every other county it is the contract county agent — and in twelve counties your own county does not run the program at all. We are an independent resource with no affiliation to DEQ, any county, or any health district, so we can point you to the right desk but cannot act for you.