Is my Macomb Township home on sewer or a septic system?

Most homes in the township's subdivisions are on township sewer and water. Septic systems and private wells sit mostly on larger rural lots and unplatted parcels. The Macomb Township Department of Public Works can confirm whether your lot is tapped into sewer.

Who issues septic permits in Macomb Township?

The Macomb County Health Department does, through its Environmental Health Services Division. Its soil evaluation comes first, and the permit follows an acceptable result. The township holds a new home's building permit until the county approves the septic system or well. We dig for the soil evaluation and build to the owner's permit.

What does a new septic system cost in Macomb Township?

The price turns on what the county soil evaluation finds and the system the county permits. Wet lake-plain soil can call for an engineered design, and that changes the price. Tank size, distance from the house, lot access and yard restoration matter too. We look at the lot and put a free estimate in writing, and the county charges its own fees.

Do I have to connect to sewer when it reaches my road?

Michigan law lets a township require a home to connect once a public sewer passes within 200 feet of it. Ask the Macomb Township Department of Public Works whether that applies to your lot. Its connection permit and fees come next, and we dig the new sewer line from the house.

Does a home sale in Macomb Township need a septic evaluation?

Yes, when the home uses a septic system or a private well. A Macomb County rule requires an evaluation before closing, by county staff or a private evaluator the county accepts. The tank gets pumped with the evaluator on site, a job for a pumping company. When a system fails, the fix is a repair or a new system, and we do both.

Septic System Installation in Macomb Township, MI | Septic, Sewer and Excavation Contractor

Which Macomb Township Homes Are on Septic Systems?

The township lies inside the Macomb Interceptor Drain Drainage District, a county sewer system. The township's Department of Public Works serves about 30,000 metered water customers. The Census counts about 32,500 homes here, so most homes are on township water.

The township's zoning ordinance plans its small-lot R-1 neighborhoods on public water and sanitary sewer. Its one-acre Residential Estate lots may not be served by either. Its Agricultural district covers rural land still without public water and sewage service. Those larger lots are where septic systems and private wells remain.

New homes follow the same pattern. The township's new-home checklist lists a county septic permit only for unplatted parcels that will not tap into sewer. Unplatted means the land sits outside a recorded subdivision plat. The zoning ordinance also holds the building permit until the county approves the septic system or well.

Septic Permits and Soil Evaluations for Macomb Township Lots

Septic permits for Macomb Township lots come from the Macomb County Health Department. Michigan has no statewide septic code, so the county sets the rules for your lot. Its Environmental Health Services Division runs the soil evaluation, often called a perc test. An acceptable result has to come before the permit.

The county requires a backhoe on site for that evaluation, at the owner's cost. We can dig those test holes. The owner or the contractor can book the county's visit once MISS DIG 811 has cleared the utilities.

The permit application needs a professionally prepared site plan. It shows the proposed system and its reserve area, plus nearby wells and the planned tile field elevations. Once the owner holds the permit, we build the system to it and keep the county's inspections on schedule.

Wet Soils and a High Water Table Across Macomb Township

The federal soil survey maps most of the township as poorly or somewhat poorly drained lake-plain soil. Common soils include Lenawee silty clay loam, Selfridge loamy sand, Corunna sandy loam and Toledo silty clay loam. Across most of the township, the seasonal water table rises to within about a foot of the surface.

A drain field needs unsaturated soil under it to treat what leaves the tank. That is why the county's soil evaluation decides so much here. Some lots need an engineered system, and the county reviews those plans too. We build the design the county permits for your lot.

Runoff here drains toward the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair. The township's storm water program lists nutrients from failing septic systems among its pollution sources. Its septic care page warns that excess water slows or stops treatment in the drain field. We lay out the field with the yard drainage, so roof drains and sump pumps discharge away from it.

Sewer Hookups and Site Work in a Fast-Growing Township

Macomb Township calls itself one of the fastest growing communities in the state. The 2020 Census counted 91,663 people. Census permit data shows 343 new single-family homes authorized here in 2025. Nearly half the homes here were built in 2000 or later, and only about one in eight before 1980.

Every hookup to township sewer or water takes a permit from the Department of Public Works. It charges a tap fee based on the size of the service. It adds a frontage fee based on the lot's road frontage, unless a past special assessment paid it. When a septic home switches over, we dig the sewer line for the new connection and restore the yard.

The township reports no lead service lines in its water system. Its 2024 test digs on service lines installed before 1989 all found copper. Some mains are older, like the 1977 main the township is replacing in Plum Grove Subdivision off Romeo Plank Road. We install new water service lines and repair broken ones.

Township ordinance 15-261 requires a written permit before any dig or fill changes the way land drains. New homes also need a soil erosion permit from the Macomb County Public Works Office. We plan our excavation and grading around both.

Concrete driveways and patios need a township permit, with a sand and form inspection before the pour. Inground pools need township building and electrical permits. An inground pool within 500 feet of a county drain also needs a soil erosion permit or letter of exception. We pour new concrete driveways and build inground pools to those rules.