Karnes County septic services.

Karnes County issues the septic permit for the unincorporated county. It holds that job only because the commissioners court adopted an on-site sewage facility order and TCEQ approved it (Health and Safety Code § 366.031), and § 366.032(b) makes that order prevail wherever it is stricter than 30 TAC Chapter 285. Ask the office for its current order — Texas counties have no general zoning power, so the order, not zoning, is where a local siting rule sits.

The dominant constraint here is clayey subsoil that water moves through too slowly (31.3% of rated soils), followed by flooding (7.8%). NRCS rates 44.9% of rated ground very limited for a standard soil absorption field, 16.7% for subsurface drip and 8.9% for surface application with disinfection. Where a conventional field will not pass, surface application is usually the route that does.