Lancaster County, Nebraska: septic system and well inspection at sale
Checked on November 13, 2026 against the official rule. Rule set by Lancaster County (Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department).
General information, not legal advice. This is our summary of the official rule as we read it. The ordinance or code and the health department decide: confirm with them before you list, sign or close.
The rule
Both the private well and the septic system are inspected before a sale or transfer.
| Question | What the official text says |
|---|---|
| Triggered by | sale, transfer, conveyance Source: lancaster.ne.gov |
| Deadline | Before the sale, transfer or conveyance of the property Source: lancaster.ne.gov |
| Fee | $240 Health Director evaluation and review of Property Transfer Inspector reports (from 2019-09-01; $230 from 2018-10-01); inspector permits $45 OWWTS, $45 OWSS, $70 both Source: lancaster.ne.gov |
| In force since | February 28, 2006 Source: lancaster.ne.gov |
This is our summary of the official rule as we read it. The ordinance or code and the health department decide: confirm with them before you list, sign or close. Rule set by: Lancaster County (Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department).
In force since February 28, 2006 (as the official text states).
Checked on November 13, 2026: read in a web-archive copy of the official page (the live site was blocked from our connection).
Private wells in Lancaster County
In 2015 about 5,958 of Lancaster County’s 306,468 residents (2%) got their drinking water from a private well, by the USGS estimate. That is the 91st highest share of the 93 Nebraska counties in the USGS table, and the highest number of private-well users.
This rule covers the well as well as the septic system. USGS models about 550 private-well users in Lancaster County with arsenic above 10 µg/L, EPA’s limit for public water (2010 population base; 95% range 443 to 683), the 7th highest of 93 Nebraska counties. It is a screening estimate, not a result for any one well.
Source: USGS county water use 2015 (Dieter et al., 2018); USGS domestic-well arsenic estimate (Ayotte, Medalie and Qi, 2017). Ranks count the Nebraska counties in the USGS table (1 = highest).
Soils and septic systems here
USDA soil surveys rate 98% of Lancaster County’s rated land “very limited” for a conventional septic drain field, 2% “somewhat limited” and 0% “not limited”, the 14th highest “very limited” share of 93 Nebraska counties with survey data. The most common limits: slow percolation (dense or clay soil) on 99%; a high water table (saturated soil near the surface) on 56%; flooding on 18%.
Where soils are limited, inspections more often find drain fields that sit in seasonally wet soil, and replacement systems are often mounds or other engineered designs. A county-wide rating, not a test of one lot: a site evaluation decides. Source: USDA NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO), via Soil Data Access, rating “ENG - Septic Tank Absorption Fields”, read November 15, 2026.
Nearest other sale-time rules
Buying or selling near a county line? These are the closest other local rules in our census to Lancaster County.
| Rule | State | Distance | Covers | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leavenworth County | Kansas | about 142 miles | Septic system | November 13, 2026 |
| Johnson County | Kansas | about 164 miles | Septic system | November 9, 2026 |
| Nobles County | Minnesota | about 204 miles | Septic system | November 9, 2026 |
| Jackson County | Minnesota | about 213 miles | Septic system | November 9, 2026 |
| Pipestone County | Minnesota | about 225 miles | Septic system | November 9, 2026 |
Straight-line distance between county centres (the average of each county’s Census ZIP-area points). Townships, villages and health districts are placed at the centre of their county.