Usually, yes. Arizona's 4.01 General Permit covers new or expanded sewage collection systems with a manhole, a lift station or force main serving more than one dwelling, or 3,000 gallons a day of design flow. You need a Construction Authorization before building and a Discharge Authorization before use. Repairs are exempt.
What triggers the 4.01 permit?
The rule is A.A.C. R18-9-E301. It covers construction and operation of a new sewage collection system, or new construction that expands an existing one, in three situations:
- 1A system with a manhole.
- 2A system that "includes a force main or lift station serving more than one dwelling."
- 3Any part of a system downstream of the point where daily design flow reaches 3,000 gallons per day, using the rule's table of unit design flows. The rule carves out one case here: a gravity sewer line carrying sewage "from a single building drain directly to" the public sewer or a manhole, whatever its flow.
Arizona's rules define a sewage collection system broadly, as the "pipelines, conduits, manholes, pumping stations, force mains, and all other structures" that carry sewage to a treatment plant, for sources other than a single-family home. A lift station pumping a commercial site's sewage through a force main fits that description, which is why most site stations end up in the 4.01 process.
Where your project lands is a design call. The engineer of record should confirm it with the reviewing agency before plans are final. Not sure you even need a pump? See does my building need a sewage ejector or lift station.
### What about a lift station for one commercial building?
Read the three triggers closely. The "more than one dwelling" trigger is about homes, so a pump serving a single commercial building doesn't meet it by itself. But the other two can still apply. A force main is not a gravity line, so the single-building exemption in the 3,000 gallons per day trigger doesn't cover a pumped connection, and a site system with a manhole is covered on that basis alone. A pump inside the building feeding its own gravity drain is the case that most clearly stays with the plumbing permit.
What does approval involve?
Two approvals, in order.
Construction Authorization (before you build). The owner files a Notice of Intent to Discharge with:
- A general site plan and construction-quality plans and profiles for the sewer lines, manholes, force mains and lift stations.
- A statement from the treatment plant's owner that it can take the added flow, and a similar statement from any downstream collection system under different ownership.
- A design that meets the rule's lift station standards (below).
Discharge Authorization (before you use it). After construction, the owner supplies:
- A signed and sealed Engineer's Certificate of Completion, with as-built plans if required and passing field tests for deflection, leakage and slope.
- A signed certification that an operation and maintenance manual exists, with a 24-hour emergency number and the address where the manual is kept.
Phoenix's version of the application for privately owned systems spells out the same package: an engineer's design report, sealed construction plans, an O&M manual, a named ADEQ certified sewage collection system operator, and draft CC&Rs showing who pays to operate, maintain and replace the system.
What design rules does ADEQ set for lift stations?
The 4.01 rule has a lift station section of its own. Among its requirements:
- At least two pumps, able to pass a 2.5-inch sphere or be grinder pumps, with the station able to run at design flow "with any one pump out of service."
- High and low level alarms. Excessively high or low levels in the wet well must "trigger an audible or visible alarm at the wet well site and at the system control center."
- A 30-minute limit on sewage sitting in the wet well, unless the sewage is aerated, treated with chemicals to prevent hydrogen sulfide or the well is adequately ventilated.
- Odor control, designed to keep odor from "emanating beyond the lift station site."
- Flood protection against a 100-year flood, and no lift station in a floodway.
- A tamper-proof enclosure and a warning sign with the owner or operator's 24-hour emergency number.
- Standby power and redundant level controls for stations with an average flow over 10,000 gallons per day.
The force main gets rules too. It must be designed to withstand a pressure of 50 pounds per square inch or more above the design working pressure for two hours and tested on completion to show no leakage. The plans have to show restrained joints or thrust blocks, and the force main must be designed to control odor. If it discharges straight to a treatment plant without an equalization basin, the plant's owner has to sign off that the design is acceptable.
A city may add its own standards on top. Phoenix, for example, recommends that private stations follow its Wastewater Lift Station Design Guidance Manual.
Who reviews it in the Valley?
ADEQ sets the rule, but review is often delegated. In Maricopa County, the county's Subdivision, Infrastructure and Planning Program reviews "sewage pump and lift stations" and issues an Approval to Construct, then an Approval of Construction certificate that serves as the operating permit. Phoenix's Planning and Development Department takes applications for privately owned systems inside the city under the same 4.01 permit.
Ask the city's development services desk first. They'll tell you whether they review it or send you to the county or ADEQ. For an existing station, also find out who holds its operating approval, because that's the record a buyer, lender or inspector will ask to see.
Do repairs need a new permit?
No. The rule says a Notice of Intent to Discharge "is not required for sewage collection system repairs." Repairs are work to fix deterioration or damage and "maintain or restore the system to its original design flow and operational characteristics." Two limits apply: repairs "do not include changes in vertical or horizontal alignment," and replacement parts still have to meet the rule's design and installation standards.
So swapping a failed pump for a matching one, rebuilding a float switch or replacing a corroded wet well lid is maintenance. Adding flow, upsizing the station or rerouting the force main is expansion, and that sends you back to the 4.01 process. Local plumbing, electrical or building permits can still apply to repair work, so check with your city.
New site lift station or an expansion: get the engineer, file under the 4.01 General Permit, and plan on two approvals. Like-for-like repair: no new state permit. Ownership duties last as long as the station, and our page on who owns and maintains a private lift station covers them. For how a station works, see sewage lift station basics.