Perc Tests and Soil Evaluations in Delaware

Called here: Site Evaluation (Class D Soil Scientist/Site Evaluator)

Hire a Class D soil scientist to perform the fieldwork, prepare the report, and submit it with the fee to DNREC's Groundwater Discharges Section. GWDS approves or denies a received site evaluation within 10 working days, and an approved evaluation ordinarily remains valid for five years. Next obtain the applicable county or municipal zoning approval, which must precede DNREC permit issuance. The approved evaluation determines the design: a Class B designer handles a conventional gravity system, while a Class C designer can handle conventional and more complex systems. DNREC must issue or deny a completed permit application within 20 working days. A Class E System Contractor installs the system. Most construction permits last two years, with a possible one-year extension when the design, site conditions, and rules have not changed.

Delaware has no acreage exemption for a new onsite system. The county or municipality must provide land-use approval before DNREC can issue the environmental permit, and work proceeds through the separate site-evaluation, design, permit, and installation steps. DNREC's Simply Septics guide states that an unimproved lot must receive a site evaluation before sale under Chapter 60, Title 7, but the guide does not identify a narrower statutory section. Cesspools are prohibited, cannot be certified for a real-estate transfer, and must be replaced within one year after they are found. A Class H inspection of an existing system cannot make a cesspool transferable or certified.

DNREC posts a $250 one-time site-evaluation review fee. This is the public review charge submitted with the Class D scientist's report, not the scientist's private fee. Other posted charges include $250 for a septic repair or component replacement, $250 for holding-tank construction, $250 annually for a holding-tank inspection, and $100 annually for a system compliance inspection when applicable. No current Delaware provider price was available from the reviewed sources, so there is no sound market range to quote. Ask several Class D evaluators for itemized quotes, confirm whether excavation or equipment is included, and keep the private fee separate from DNREC's review charge.

GWDS's 10-working-day site-evaluation review and DNREC's 20-working-day completed-permit decision are not end-to-end schedules; they exclude evaluator availability, fieldwork, report preparation, zoning, design, and installation. Delaware has no general rule against summer testing. Season matters when an owner challenges a limiting-zone finding based on redoximorphic evidence of seasonal saturation. Observation wells or piezometers for that challenge must be installed before December 1. Monitoring runs from December 1 through May 15 with readings at least weekly, and DNREC uses readings from a consecutive 14-day period representing the seasonal peak water table. This is a winter-through-spring monitoring process, not a same-week retest.

Delaware requires a DNREC-licensed Class D Soil Scientist/Site Evaluator for a full site evaluation. Class D authorizes individual soil evaluations, soil investigation reports, feasibility studies, and percolation, permeability, or hydraulic-conductivity tests; D.1 covers ordinary new and replacement work, with D.2 and D.3 adding broader studies. Class A is a narrower percolation-testing credential and does not authorize the full evaluation. Class D applicants follow specified education and supervised experience paths, pass DNREC's written exam, and satisfy a certification or field-practicum path. Licenses expire each December 31 and require 10 hours of continuing education. Use DNREC's Class D dataset to find candidates, then confirm current status because the sources do not establish its refresh schedule.

DNREC Groundwater Discharges Section · Verify a license