How to Document Septic Systems, Wells, and Utility Shutoffs

Read this before you start

Everything below is documentation: reading paperwork, photographing what is already visible, and writing down what you learn from professionals who are already on site.

Start with the paper trail, not the shovel

Far more of this information already exists than most owners realise. Collect it first — it is safer, faster, and more accurate than guessing outdoors.

Where the records usually live

• County or local health department: septic permits, as-built drawings, tank size, drain field layout, and inspection history.
• State well database or county records: well logs with depth, casing, static water level, and drilling date.
• Your purchase file: inspection reports, disclosure forms, pumping receipts, and any survey included at closing.
• Prior service providers: pumping companies and well drillers often keep records for a property address for years.
• Utility provider: meter location and service line responsibility boundaries.

Save each document you obtain as an attachment on the matching infrastructure record so it is stored beside the thing it describes rather than in a folder you will forget.

Documenting a septic system

What to record

• System type: conventional gravity, pressure-dosed, mound, aerobic treatment unit, or other.
• Tank material, capacity, and number of compartments, from the permit.
• Approximate tank location and access lid locations, from the as-built drawing.
• Distribution box location and general drain field extent.
• Last pumping date, the company that pumped it, and any notes they gave you.
• Effluent filter presence and cleaning interval, if the system has one.
• Any alarm panel or pump controls, including where the breaker is.

What is safe to photograph yourself

• Risers, visible lids at grade, and cleanout caps — from above, without opening them.
• Alarm panels, control boxes, and their labels.
• The permit and as-built drawing pages.
• Surface clues you want to remember: greener grass strips, settling, or the mound footprint.

The single best opportunity to document a septic system is while a pumping company is on site. They will already have the lid open. Ask if you can photograph the open tank from a safe distance and ask them to point out the inlet, outlet, and drain field direction. Record what they say the same day.

Documenting a private well

What to record

• Well log details: total depth, casing depth and diameter, static water level, yield at drilling, and drilling date.
• Well head location and how it is protected — above-grade casing, pitless adapter, or well house.
• Pressure tank location, size, and pre-charge pressure if a professional has given it to you.
• Pump type — submersible or jet — and the breaker that controls it.
• Any water treatment equipment: sediment filter, softener, UV, or acid neutraliser, with filter sizes and change intervals.
• Water test results and dates. Keep every test; the trend matters more than any single result.

What is safe to photograph yourself

• The well cap and casing from the outside, without removing anything.
• The pressure tank, pressure switch, and gauge.
• Treatment equipment labels, model numbers, and filter cartridge part numbers.
• The well log and lab reports.

Documenting utility shutoffs

Shutoffs are the highest-value, lowest-effort items on the whole property. Ten minutes of documentation here can save thousands of dollars of water damage later.

Water

• Main shutoff inside the building — usually where the supply line enters, near the meter, in a crawlspace, utility room, or basement.
• Curb stop or meter valve at the street, if you are on municipal water. Note that operating it is often the utility's responsibility.
• Pressure tank output valve, if you are on a well.
• Branch valves for outbuildings, irrigation, exterior spigots, and water heaters.
• Note the valve type: a quarter-turn ball valve, a gate valve, or a stop-and-waste. Photograph which way it turns to close.

Electrical

• Main disconnect location and whether it is at the meter or in the panel.
• Panel locations, including sub-panels in garages, shops, and barns.
• A clear photograph of the panel directory. If the labels are wrong or missing, have an electrician map and relabel the circuits and photograph the corrected directory.
• Generator interlock or transfer switch, if present.

Gas or propane

• Meter shutoff or tank service valve location, and the tool required to operate it.
• Supplier name, account number, and tank ownership — leased or owned.
• Appliance shutoffs at the water heater, range, furnace, and fireplace.

Make the documentation findable under pressure

Documentation only counts if a stressed person can use it. A few habits make the difference.

1. Name items the way you would say them out loud: 'Main water shutoff', not 'WV-01'.
2. Put the physical directions in the first line of the note, before any technical detail.
3. Attach the wide orientation photo first so it is the one someone sees.
4. Group related items so the well head, pressure tank, and treatment stack read as one system.
5. Tell everyone who lives on the property where the records are and how to open them.