Pembroke, MA septic help: 150 gallons a bedroom, concrete tanks and a $10 Title 5 filing fee

Pembroke designs for 150 gallons a bedroom, not 110

Pembroke sizes a septic system at 150 gallons per day per bedroom under its Title V Rules and Regulations Exclusive to Pembroke, 36% above the 110 gallons in 310 CMR 15.203. A three-bedroom design here is a 450-gallon-a-day system, with a larger leach field and often a larger tank than across the county line.

The local rulebook, amended between 1988 and July 15, 2019, adds more. Concrete septic tanks are required unless the Board grants a variance. The reserve leaching area must sit at least 10 feet from the primary system. Setbacks run 75 feet to bordering vegetated wetlands and 100 feet to private wells. Pumping three or more times a year, or twice in 30 days, is a failure trigger, and an existing tank or cesspool must have been pumped within the two years before a building-permit application.

Two 2019 rules matter most at sale. Since May 6, 2019, a cesspool is an automatic failure when the property is conveyed, so it must be replaced with a Title 5 system when the home sells. And a Title 5 inspector must notify the Board and the Health Agent before every inspection or the report is rejected; failures are confirmed with the Health Agent present, and a conditional pass requires the repair before transfer. Pembroke is in Plymouth County, so none of the Cape’s 2023 nitrogen rules apply; MassDEP’s watershed permit table lists no Plymouth County town.

How a disposal works permit moves through 100 Center Street

The Board of Health at Town Hall, 100 Center Street, 781-709-1400, issues the Disposal Works Permit for new systems and repairs. Its step-by-step FAQ puts the typical new-system permit path at $400 in town fees: $200 to have the Health Agent witness the percolation test and $200 for plan review.

Your engineer evaluates the lot, designs to the 150-gallon standard and submits four copies of the plan, two copies of the soil analysis, the application and the $200 check; the Board has 45 days to approve or reject. Local variances go to a Board meeting, and state variances add 90 days. A town-licensed installer then picks up the approved plans and builds. Under the fee schedule effective January 1, 2019, a single-component repair with no engineering review is $100, a Title 5 report acceptance fee is $10, and a well permit is $100 to the Board plus $35 to the DPW. Confirm with the office that neither the schedule nor the rules have changed after 2019; hours were not shown on the pages we could read.

A rule of June 10, 2019 lets the Health Agent approve four administrative variances without a hearing: a one-foot reduction in groundwater separation, cellar-wall separation cut from 20 to 10 feet with a rubber membrane, footing separation cut from 10 to 5 feet if hand-dug after installation, and design flow reduced from 150 to 110 gallons per bedroom on a constrained lot. Other variances go to the Board.

Paying for a Pembroke system: the credit, MassHousing and a town program to confirm

The Cape Cod AquiFund is limited to the 15 Barnstable County towns, per the county page, so a Pembroke owner starts with the state septic credit: 60% of up to $30,000 spent repairing or replacing a failed system at a principal residence, $18,000 lifetime and $4,000 a year with a five-year carryforward. A cesspool that fails under the May 2019 conveyance rule is a documented failure for Schedule SC.

MassHousing lends up to $25,000 to owner-occupants of one- to four-family homes through participating banks, with income limits of $69,500 for the deferred loan and $139,000 for the amortized loan. Pembroke has advertised a septic betterment loan through its Treasurer/Collector of the kind the state’s Community Septic Management Program funds, but the page was not reachable and the terms are unverified, so confirm with the town whether a program is open this year. Program terms are set by the agencies and change; confirm with the state or county page linked here. The tax credit guide covers the paperwork.

Septic jobs on Pembroke’s pond and wetland lots

Full septic system replacement is the most common job, and in Pembroke it is bigger because of the 150-gallon rule. Cesspool replacement follows from the conveyance rule on older lots. A conditional pass has to be repaired before the deed transfers.

Title 5 inspections here need an inspector who knows to notify the Board first and to photograph what the town asks for; a report filed without notice is rejected. Septic design and soil evaluation is a longer process than in most towns because of the monitoring season described below. Septic tank replacement means a concrete tank, and failed Title 5 repair and upgrade work covers the single-component repairs the Board permits for $100. The Title 5 guide explains the four inspection outcomes; the inspection checklist tells you what to have ready.

Six months of well readings: high groundwater in Pembroke

Pembroke requires observation-well monitoring for at least six months before a system is designed, with readings every two weeks from February through April, the late-winter high season, and applies the Frimpter method to adjust the result to high groundwater. The Health Agent can trim the resulting separation by only one foot.

That schedule means a design started in summer may not be ready to permit until the following spring, which matters if a sale is waiting.

The reason is the ground itself: an inland town of ponds, including Furnace, Oldham, Stetson and Little Sandy Bottom, and the North River and Indian Head River wetlands, on glacial till and sand with seasonally high groundwater in the low areas. Pembroke draws its municipal water from local wells, which is why the 100-foot well separation exists. The DPW is organized into highway, water and cemetery divisions with no sewer division, the state plant list shows no municipal plant in town, and no Pembroke project sits on the 2025 or 2026 Clean Water SRF lists, so septic is the permanent plan.

To the east, Marshfield has a sewer with a one-year connection rule; to the south, Kingston has a small plant and a loan through its Collector. All 23 towns are on the service areas page.