Home › Massachusetts › Tyngsborough
Septic Pumping, Inspections and Repair in Tyngsborough, MA
Public sewer reaches about a quarter of Tyngsborough, so most homes here treat their own wastewater, often a short walk from their own well. 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
- Lake Mascuppic to the western hills
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 Tyngsborough
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, seeing slow drains or planning an addition, and we'll help you sort out what kind of work it is.
Permits
Septic permits and rules in Tyngsborough
The Tyngsborough Board of Health enforces Title 5 and is involved with every new septic system, every failure and every repair. The Regional Health Inspector is in the office every other Monday plus Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the Board meets on the second Monday of the month at 6 p.m. at Town Hall (Board of Health). The town's septic page links its local regulations, a homeowner's guide and a guide for new home buyers (Septic, Wells and Public Water).
- Who handles septic
- Board of Health (Regional Health Inspector)
- Local rules
- Supplemental Septic Regulations, effective July 8, 2019
- Single- or multi-family system
- $675 incl. testing, 2 reviews, 2 inspections (fees effective January 1, 2023); septic construction permit $50 listed separately
- Single component (tank or D-box)
- $150
- Title 5 administrative fee
- $25
- Installers and haulers
- Licensed by the Board of Health; installers pass a town exam
Stricter than the state. Tyngsborough's Supplemental Septic Regulations, effective July 8, 2019, say the more conservative of the local and state rules applies (Sec. 1.7). Soil testing takes at least three deep holes set in a triangle 60 to 80 feet apart, with percolation tests inside the triangle at least 40 feet apart; results stay valid for five years, and testing can happen year-round when weather allows (Sec. 2.2). No part of a system may sit within 100 feet of wetlands, watercourses or great ponds (Sec. 2.1). Pump systems must be vented, the pump must come out without anyone entering the tank, and the pump system is recorded on the deed (Sec. 3.3). Once construction starts on a house lot, it has 30 calendar days to finish (Sec. 4.14), and winter work brings extra inspections (Board of Health Septic Regulations).
Fees. The fee schedule in Sec. 1.8, effective January 1, 2023, charges $675 for a single-family or multi-family system, covering testing, two reviews and two inspections, and lists a septic construction permit separately at $50. A single component such as a distribution box or tank is $150, a perc retest is $150 per lot, a variance request is $150 and the Title 5 administrative fee is $25. Installers pay $150 for a license and must pass a written town exam with 70% (Sec. 6.0), and the construction permit is issued only with the installer's signature (Sec. 4.3).
Title 5 at a sale. Massachusetts requires a Title 5 inspection within two years before a sale, or within three years if the system was pumped every year and the records go with the report. Only MassDEP-approved System Inspectors can do it (buying or selling with a septic system); the approved list is kept by NEIWPCC. A design comes from a Registered Sanitarian or a Massachusetts-registered professional engineer, no system may be built or upgraded without a Disposal System Construction Permit, and nothing goes into a new or repaired system until the Certificate of Compliance is issued (310 CMR 15.000). Even swapping a tank or distribution box needs that permit and certificate (MassDEP repairs FAQ).
Hiring and digging. The Board of Health licenses septic installers and septage haulers and posts the list (licensed septic companies). Ask whether your contractor is registered as a Home Improvement Contractor (Contractor Hub), and expect the job to be premarked in white with Dig Safe notified at least 72 hours ahead, weekends and holidays excluded (M.G.L. c.82 §40A).
Last verified November 2026. Fees, restrictions and deadlines on this page are due for re-checking by March 2027. New England Septic Pros is a referral service. We don't design, permit or install septic systems; your designer and installer file with the Board of Health.
Sewer or septic
Sewer or septic in Tyngsborough
Mostly septic. The 2018–2020 Open Space and Recreation Plan says public sewer serves 25% of the town, the rest is on Title 5 systems overseen by the Board of Health, and three-quarters of residents will continue to rely on on-site systems until all sewer phases are built. The first sewers went in around Lake Mascuppic in the late 1970s, in response to failing septic systems that were degrading the lake (Open Space and Recreation Plan 2018–2020).
Phases built. Phase I West, approved at Town Meeting on June 2, 2015, serves 145 parcels along Middlesex Road from Applewood Plaza through the Town Center, parts of Old Tyng Road, Westford Road to Potash Hill, and Kendall Road with Flint Road and Upton Drive (Phase I West). Phase II came online in February 2021 for about 64 parcels in the commercial and industrial area along northern Middlesex Road to the New Hampshire line (Phase II).
Phases designed, not funded. The town says designs for Phase I East and portions of Phase III and Phase V are 100% complete, but building them still needs public outreach, Town Meeting approval and more funding, and the town gives no construction timeline (Phase I East, III and V designs). Tyngsborough's flow runs through Chelmsford to the Lowell plant, which has capacity limits, and a federal grant is paying to cut infiltration so more parcels, including ones with failed systems, can connect (Sewer Capacity Project). If your street isn't in a built phase, plan on keeping your septic system working.
Connecting. The sewer connection fee is $9,900 per house or unit, effective September 25, 2025; it isn't charged to parcels inside a betterment project, and the Sewer Commission can finance it by covenant at 5% over 20 years, billed twice a year (Sewer Department). All connections must be approved in advance by the Sewer Commission. When a house ties in, a licensed septic hauler pumps the system and provides a pump-out slip, the building sewer to the septic is disconnected, the tank is crushed and filled with sand or gravel, and the drain layer files an application to abandon the system with the Board of Health; the plumbing safety inspection is $25 (Sewer Connection Requirements).
Water
Water Tyngsborough protects
Wells next door. About 70% of the town is served by private wells, and the town notes that groundwater from local aquifers is a major source of domestic water; the Dracut Water Supply District serves the area north of Mascuppic Lake, where a high-yield aquifer lies under its well fields (Open Space and Recreation Plan). That's why septic plans must show wells on abutting lots within 200 feet (Sec. 3.1F), and why a lot with very fast soils (2 minutes per inch or faster) and no town water needs six feet of natural soil under the leaching area (Sec. 3.2G) (septic regulations).
Lakes and ponds. Lake Mascuppic, Flint Pond, Long Pond and Massapoag Pond are among the town's seven large lakes and ponds; the open space plan names stormwater and fertilizer impacts on Mascuppic and a water quality treatment at Flint Pond funded with Community Preservation money in 2016. Beyond the Board of Health's 100-foot septic setback, the town's wetland regulations, revised February 22, 2022, allow no land disturbance within 30 feet of a resource area and no new structures or impervious surfaces within 50 feet (wetland regulations), and the Wetlands Protection Bylaw covers ponds of any size and vernal pools (Wetlands Protection Bylaw).
Ledge and wet ground. Hollis-Canton-Scituate soils cover about half the town and are hard to build on because of poor drainage and shallow bedrock; ledge is very evident in the western hills, and the Hinckley-Windsor-Deerfield soils near the waterways are poorly drained with high water tables (Open Space and Recreation Plan, Sec. 4.A). The local rules assume groundwater follows the existing ground surface unless test data shows otherwise (Sec. 3.2H), so a replacement system on these soils is designed lot by lot.
Tyngsborough's homes
Single-family homes, each with its own system
The town's Housing Production Plan, dated April 3, 2025, counts 4,622 year-round homes in the 2020 Census and an estimated 4,771 by January 2025, with single-family homes on 3,234 of the town's 4,146 parcels (Housing Production Plan 2025–2029). With three-quarters of the town outside the sewer, most of those houses rely on a system on their own lot.
Additions are where Tyngsborough's rules bite. Because the local regulations count extra living space as bedrooms at 110 gallons per day each (Sec. 3.2L), a finished room can raise the design flow. MassDEP's April 7, 2025 guidance treats an accessory dwelling unit that raises design flow as new construction under Title 5, sized at 110 gallons per day per bedroom (ADU guidance), and a change that needs a building permit, such as adding a bedroom, also triggers a Title 5 inspection (MassDEP). Talk to the Board of Health before the architect finishes the plans.
Paying for it
Help with septic and sewer costs
The town's septic page points homeowners to the MassHousing Septic Repair Loan and the state's Title 5 tax credit (Septic, Wells and Public Water). Under current law, the credit is 60% of qualifying design and construction costs to repair, replace or upgrade a cesspool or septic system, or to connect to sewer, when Title 5 or a watershed permit requires it, on costs up to the lesser of the actual cost or $30,000; it can't exceed $4,000 in any tax year, the excess carries forward up to the next 5 tax years, the total is capped at $18,000, and it is for owners of their principal residence (M.G.L. c.62 §6). MassHousing offers low- and no-interest loans of up to $25,000 for owner-occupants of 1–4 family homes and condos, with income limits of $69,500 for deferred loans and $139,000 for amortized loans; its page doesn't state rates or whether applications are open, so ask a participating lender (MassHousing septic loans). For a sewer tie-in, the Sewer Commission's covenant spreads the connection fee over 20 years at 5%.
FAQ
Tyngsborough septic questions
How much of Tyngsborough is on septic?
Most of it. The town's 2018–2020 Open Space and Recreation Plan says public sewer serves about 25% of the town and that three-quarters of residents will keep relying on septic systems until every sewer phase is built. The same plan says about 70% of the town is served by private wells.
What does the Board of Health charge to permit a septic system?
Under the fee schedule effective January 1, 2023, the fee for a single-family or multi-family system is $675, which covers testing, two plan reviews and two inspections; a septic construction permit is listed separately at $50. Replacing a single component such as a tank or distribution box is $150, and the Title 5 administrative fee is $25.
Does a home office count as a bedroom in Tyngsborough?
It can. The local regulations, effective July 8, 2019, size systems at 110 gallons per day per bedroom and count all living space as bedrooms except one living room, one kitchen, one attached family or great room, and bathrooms. Ask the Board of Health before adding a room.
What happens to my septic tank if I connect to the sewer?
The town's connection sheet says a licensed septic hauler must pump the system and provide a pump-out slip, the tank is crushed and filled with sand or gravel, and the drain layer files an abandonment application with the Board of Health. Every connection must be approved in advance by the Sewer Commission.
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