Septic installation and replacement in Camden County, Missouri
Camden County has something almost no other Missouri county has: a dedicated Wastewater Department, and an ordinance written around the Lake of the Ozarks. The most important thing to know here concerns the state large-lot exemption. Missouri excludes some single-family lots of three acres or more from the state onsite sections, but that exclusion expressly does not reach lots adjacent to lakes operated by the Corps of Engineers or by a public utility. The Lake of the Ozarks is a utility lake, so lakefront acreage in this county does not get the exemption that the same acreage would get inland.
Who issues a septic permit in Camden County, MO?
The Camden County Wastewater Department. That is the office to call before anything else, because in Missouri the permitting authority is not the same kind of agency in every county, and assuming it is the health department wastes a week in the counties where it is not.
Phone (573) 317-3810. Their page: Camden County Wastewater Department.
Source: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, onsite wastewater construction permit authority lookup for Camden County, read 2026-08-26. Fees, forms and requirements change, and this county is the only current source for its own.
What does Camden County require beyond the state standard?
- Any person desiring to construct, install, modify or repair an onsite sewage disposal system must first obtain a valid permit issued by the Camden County Wastewater Department. Source: Camden County On-Site Sewage Disposal System Ordinance, read 2026-08-26.
- The fee for a permit to construct, install or modify a system is one hundred and fifty dollars and is non-refundable, and the fee to repair a system is the same. Source: Camden County On-Site Sewage Disposal System Ordinance, Section 16, read 2026-08-26.
- A soil evaluation report may not be based upon percolation tests, so the evaluation has to come from a registered soil scientist, engineer, sanitarian or registered geologist. Source: Camden County On-Site Sewage Disposal System Ordinance, Section 7.4, read 2026-08-26.
- Systems may not be constructed, installed, modified or repaired using composting toilets on property adjoining the Lake of the Ozarks. Source: Camden County On-Site Sewage Disposal System Ordinance, Section 6.2.5, read 2026-08-26.
- A system installed on or after 1 January 2011 that incorporates an advanced system may not be operated without a valid operating permit, so those systems carry an ongoing obligation rather than a one-time approval. Source: Camden County On-Site Sewage Disposal System Ordinance, Section 9.1, read 2026-08-26.
- Onsite systems must be inspected by a state registered inspector as a prerequisite for building permits issued by Camden County Planning and Zoning, so selling or remodeling can trigger an inspection. Source: Camden County On-Site Sewage Disposal System Ordinance, Section 6.4, read 2026-08-26.
Missouri lets a county adopt standards more restrictive than the state's, so a requirement here is not evidence of the same requirement one county over.
Source: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Onsite Wastewater Treatment, read 2026-08-26.
What is the ground like in Camden County?
Ozark karst, on the Salem Plateau. Camden County sits well south of the glacial limit, so nothing here is till, and the lake shoreline is drowned Osage River valley cut into dolomite and limestone. Thin soils over fractured rock, steep ground running down to the water, and a very large amount of shoreline are what the county ordinance is written around.
That matters because the soil decides the system. A standard system needs at least one foot between the trench bottom and the limiting layer or seasonal high water table, rising to four feet to groundwater or bedrock in highly permeable soils and in cherty clay soils in areas of severe geological limitations, and a percolation rate slower than sixty minutes per inch pulls a registered engineer onto the design.
The soil evaluation is what settles it for your particular lot.
Source: 19 CSR 20-3.060(5)(A)2., Missouri Code of State Regulations, read 2026-08-26.
Which towns does this cover?
Camden County has Camdenton as its county seat. Places served include Camdenton, Osage Beach, Lake Ozark, Linn Creek, Laurie, Richland, Stoutland, Sunrise Beach, Four Seasons, Roach, Hurricane Deck, Macks Creek. Anywhere in the county not on a public sewer is on a system this page applies to.
Who is allowed to do the work here?
An installer registered with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. That is a state requirement rather than a county one, and it applies wherever you are. Some counties add their own licensing on top of it, which is one more reason to ask the permitting authority what they require before you sign anything.
How to check an installer's registration takes one phone call.
Source: Section 701.031, Revised Statutes of Missouri, read 2026-08-26.
What we could not confirm for this county
The fees above come from the ordinance as amended in 2010, and whether they have changed since was not established. The county’s posted scan of the ordinance does not include its final sections. Ameren manages the lake shoreline within the project boundary, and no lake-specific septic setback from Ameren itself was confirmed. Certain properties are carved out of the county permit requirement by the ordinance, so confirm your own status with the Wastewater Department.
Get a free quote from a septic contractor in Camden County
Tell us the county and the job. No email needed.
A marketing service, not a licensed contractor. Septic work is performed by independent local contractors.
Need the job done, not just the rule explained
Your request goes straight to an independent local septic contractor serving your Missouri county, usually within about an hour during the day, not a national lead list.
Tell us the county and the jobLast reviewed 2026-08-26.