The Development Engineering Section is responsible for the review of all commercial and industrial projects within Pierce County that may or may not have an impact on the sewer system. Commercial and industrial uses are reviewed for possible connection to the County or another jurisdiction's sewer system, within unincorporated Pierce County. This centralized review approach insures that all development regulations pertaining to sanitary sewer services are met.

Commercial and industrial projects are further reviewed to insure conformance with Pierce County's Pretreatment Program. The pretreatment program regulates levels of contaminants allowed to be discharged into the public sanitary sewer system.

For those projects that fall outside of the sewer service area, or that are located in rural areas of Pierce County, on-site septic systems are allowed. All on-site systems require the review and approval of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department prior to permitting and installation.

A commonly held misconception is that Pierce County designs and builds all the sewer collector and interceptor pipelines within the service area. Nearly 45% of the 3,100,000 linear feet of public sewer lines installed in the County's Sewer Service Area have been designed and constructed by private developers in support of their residential and commercial projects. The Development Engineering Section reviews all privately designed collector systems proposed by developers for eventual turnover to the County's public system for compliance with Pierce County Standard Plans and Details.

Developers have also designed and constructed over 950,000 linear feet of private sewer lines within the private roads of residential subdivisions, multi-family developments and commercial properties. All sewer construction within private roads remain private systems and are not maintained by the County. The Development Engineering Section reviews all collector systems proposed by developers as privately owned for compliance with Pierce County Standard Plans and Details.

The Department also responds for requests for sewer information from individual property owners and developers in need of sewer availability letters in support of land use or building permit applications, pretreatment reviews for commercial and industrial users, and final review and approval of sewer plans. Forms for these reviews can be found on the Standard Forms page.