New Madrid County septic services.

Environmental protections

Nothing in New Madrid County changes this. Missouri’s protected-water designations do not change what a household septic system may do. Outstanding National and State Resource Waters, the metropolitan no-discharge streams, the losing streams and Lake Taneycomo are all defined in the Clean Water Commission’s water quality standards (10 CSR 20-7.031), and every one of them attaches to a permitted discharge or a department approval — which an absorption field serving a single home under 3,000 gallons a day is not. The rule that does bind is statewide and keyed to a physical feature rather than to a water body: an absorption field sits at least 100 feet, and a sewage tank at least 50 feet, from the topographic drainage of a sinkhole (19 CSR 20-3.060). Where that matters in a given county is in its geology notes, because that is where the sinkhole measurement is.

How Missouri permitting works

Checked against Missouri Clean Water Commission, 10 CSR 20-7.031 Water Quality Standards, sections (8) Outstanding National Resource Waters, (9) Outstanding State Resources Waters, (10) Lake Taneycomo and (13) Losing Streams, with Tables D, E and F, as published by the Missouri Secretary of State (Code of State Regulations, 9/30/23) ↗ · retrieved Sep 1, 2026

Also: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 19 CSR 20-3.060 Minimum Construction Standards for On-Site Sewage Disposal Systems, definition 54 (setbacks of 100 feet for a disposal field and 50 feet for a sewage tank from the topographic drainage of a sinkhole) and definition 55 (sinkhole) ↗ · retrieved Sep 1, 2026