Home › Massachusetts › Andover
Septic Pumping, Inspections and Repair in Andover, MA
In Andover, a septic home either keeps its system working or ties into the sewer once it's available; there is no keeping both. Call (978) 486-7980 or use the form. A person reads every request and replies with what happens next.
- Free for homeowners
- Town and Title 5 rules on this page
- Ballardvale to the Merrimack
Ask About Septic Service in Your Area
Tell us about the system and what is going on. A person reads it and replies with what happens next.
Please add your name, a 10-digit phone number and a valid email.
Your request didn't go through on our end. Please call (978) 486-7980 so it isn't lost.
Too many requests have come from this connection in a short time. Please call (978) 486-7980 and we'll take it from there.
We couldn't finish the spam check. Wait a moment and send it again, or call (978) 486-7980.
Septic in Andover
What does your system need?
Pumping & Maintenance
Routine tank pumping, filter cleaning and the records your board of health or town may ask for.
Septic Inspections
Title 5 inspections before a Massachusetts sale, and system evaluations for New Hampshire buyers and owners.
Repair & Leach Field Replacement
Broken baffles, failed pumps, backups and leach fields that no longer take water, permitted the way your town requires.
New System Design & Installation
A licensed designer or engineer draws the plan, the town or state approves it, and a permitted installer builds it.
Not sure where to start?
(978) 486-7980Tell us whether you're selling, repairing or weighing a sewer tie-in, and we'll help you sort out the job.
Permits
Septic permits and rules in Andover
Septic systems in Andover are a Health Division and Board of Health matter, including failures (town directory). The Health Division's FAQ says a new system needs a private engineer; the Division keeps a mailing list of engineers but doesn't license or approve them. It may also have an as-built plan of your existing system on file, which you can request by address (Health Division FAQ). Permits are filed through the town's ViewPoint Cloud portal (Departments).
- Who handles septic
- Health Division (Board of Health)
- Installers
- Town-licensed disposal works installers (34 on the 2026 list)
- Haulers
- Town posts a septage hauler list
- Sewer tie-in
- Required when available; town-licensed drain layer
- Local septic code
- Town code Appendix B, minimum requirements for subsurface disposal
- Septic permit fees
- Not posted where we could read them; ask the Health Division
Licensed installers and haulers. Andover licenses the people who build systems: its "2026 Disposal Works Installers" list names 34 licensees (installer list), and the town also posts a septage hauler list. Drain layers who connect houses to the sewer are licensed by the Director of Public Health after an exam, carry $1 million / $2 million insurance and renew each December 31 (Sewer Regulations). An electrical permit for a sewer or septic ejector pump is $50 (residential electrical fees, last modified May 9, 2025).
Local requirements. The town code includes Appendix B, the Board of Health's "Minimum Requirements for the Subsurface Disposal of Sanitary Sewage" (Andover town code). Massachusetts lets local boards set rules stricter than Title 5 (MassDEP FAQ), so have your designer check Appendix B with the Health Division before a plan is drawn.
Title 5. The Health Division's FAQ says an inspection is good for two years, or three if the tank is pumped every year after it. Under state rules the inspection must be done by a MassDEP-approved System Inspector, a failed system must be upgraded within two years unless the Board of Health or MassDEP sets another schedule, and even replacing a tank or distribution box needs a Disposal System Construction Permit and a Certificate of Compliance (buying or selling with a septic system; repairs FAQ). Ask whether your contractor is a registered Home Improvement Contractor (Contractor Hub), and expect Dig Safe to be called at least 72 hours before digging, weekends and holidays excluded.
Last verified November 2026. Fees, restrictions and deadlines on this page are due for re-checking by February 2027. New England Septic Pros is a referral service. We don't design, permit or install septic systems; your engineer and installer file with the Health Division.
Sewer or septic
Sewer or septic in Andover
Connect when it's there. Andover's sewer flows to the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District plant in North Andover; the town has been a member since 1977 (GLSD communities served). The Health Division's FAQ is plain: if sewer service is available, you must connect to it, with a town-licensed drain layer (Health Division FAQ). The town doesn't publish what share of homes is on septic or which neighborhoods are unsewered.
The 2025 sewer rules. The Sewer Regulations, amended May 12, 2025, say that if any part of a facility connects, all of it must; the owner owns the building sewer from the inside of the foundation wall to the wye; a backwater valve is required 10 feet outside the foundation; grinder pumps need alarms and standby power even at a single-family home; and violations can cost up to $1,000 a day (Sewer Regulations). The Sewer Permitting Fact Sheet of April 1, 2023 says the Board of Health handles work from the foundation to the wye, every sewer job needs a trench permit, and any repair must add a backwater valve and cleanout if they aren't already there (Sewer Permitting Fact Sheet).
Where sewer goes next. The Sewer Commission Policy, revised October 29, 2007, extends sewer only when the Board of Health, with the Sewer Commissioners, finds that public health requires it, after alternatives such as on-site replacement or shared subsurface systems are found unfeasible. Areas likely to see significant septic failures come first, no extension is made where peak wet-weather flow reaches 80% of design capacity, and full build-out of the planning area was estimated at more than $100,000,000 (Sewer Commission Policy). For most septic owners, that means planning to repair or replace the system rather than waiting for a pipe.
Water
Water Andover protects
Haggetts Pond. Andover's public water comes from Haggetts Pond, with about 1,442 acres of watershed, supplemented by Fish Brook and the Merrimack River (Water and Sewer). The stormwater bylaw treats Class A public water supplies as Outstanding Resource Waters with stricter requirements (stormwater bylaw).
Wetland zones. Andover's Wetlands Protection Bylaw, adopted May 11, 1999 with regulations effective April 13, 2002, treats the full 100-foot buffer as a protected resource area, with an inner 25-foot No-Disturb Zone and an inner 50-foot No-Build Zone; homes existing or permitted by January 1, 1999 may qualify for some exemptions (wetlands bylaw fact sheet). A replacement leach field on a lot near a brook or pond has to fit around those lines, so the Conservation Commission belongs in the conversation early.
Andover's homes
Older villages and postwar neighborhoods
Andover's 2025 Housing Production Plan says over a third of the town's homes were built before 1960 and about 70% are detached single-family houses (2025 Housing Production Plan).
Before listing an older house, ask the Health Division for the as-built plan and line up the Title 5 inspection; if the tank has been pumped every year, the inspection stays valid for three years. MassDEP's guidance is to pump at least once every three years, and every year with a garbage disposal (caring for your septic system). Adding a bedroom or an accessory unit can trigger an inspection and a system upgrade under Title 5 (MassDEP ADU guidance).
FAQ
Andover septic questions
If sewer is on my street, can I keep my septic system?
No. The Health Division says that if sewer service is available, you must connect to it, using a town-licensed drain layer. The Sewer Regulations, amended May 12, 2025, also say that if any part of a building connects, the whole building must, so a house can't run partly on sewer and partly on septic.
Can I get a copy of my septic plan?
Possibly. The Health Division says it may have an as-built plan of your system on file and takes requests by address. It's worth asking before a Title 5 inspection or a sale.
How long is a Title 5 inspection good for in Andover?
The Health Division says two years, extended to three if the tank is pumped every year after the inspection. That matches the state rule, which also requires the pumping records to go with the report.
Will Andover bring sewer to my neighborhood?
Only if the Board of Health, with the Sewer Commissioners, finds that public health requires it and that options such as replacing the on-site system aren't feasible. The Sewer Commission Policy, revised October 29, 2007, gives first priority to areas likely to see significant septic failures.
What does it cost me to use New England Septic Pros?
Nothing. Asking is free for homeowners; the contractor prices the job, and the price and contract are between you and them.
Nearby