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Septic tank regulation in IndonesiaConcept
FieldSanitation and wastewater regulation
JurisdictionIndonesia
Principal instrumentsPP 28/2025; Permen LH 11/2025; SNI 2398:2017

Septic tank regulation in Indonesia is the body of law and technical standards governing the design, approval, operation and desludging of on-site domestic wastewater containment, principally the household septic tank (tangki septik). It forms part of wastewater and sanitation regulation in Indonesia but is not contained in a single instrument. Compliance is instead assembled from three layers that refer to one another: the risk-based business and building licensing system, the environmental approval that licensing presupposes, and the national technical standard that the environmental approval incorporates.

The framework was rewritten in 2025. Peraturan Pemerintah 28/2025, in force from 5 June 2025, made environmental approval one of the basic requirements for business licensing and, together with the building approval, a condition of constructing a building.[1][2] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup 11/2025, in force from 9 September 2025, replaced the 2016 effluent regime and added technology standards to the quality standards that regime had set, and SNI 2398:2017, the national standard that the regulation's technology annex names for septic tanks, became the design reference for the tanks themselves. For small installations the annex requires a watertight tank whose effluent may not be allowed to seep into the ground.[3][4]

The 2025 regulation sets effluent limits graded by the type of release and, for discharge to a water body, by the volume of wastewater an activity produces. It places the desludging obligations on the generator of the wastewater, which must have its faecal sludge emptied and recorded and must hand it over to licensed transport or treatment services.[5][6] Activities already operating when the 2025 standards took effect have until 9 September 2027 to conform to them.[7]

Regulatory framework

Building permits and basic requirements

PP 28/2025 is the implementing regulation of the risk-based business licensing system (Perizinan Berusaha Berbasis Risiko), and it revoked and replaced PP 5/2021 with effect from 5 June 2025.[8] Pasal 12 ayat (1) provides that the basic requirements (persyaratan dasar) comprise conformity with spatial planning (KKPR), environmental approval (Persetujuan Lingkungan, PL), and the building approval together with the certificate of functional worthiness (Persetujuan Bangunan Gedung and Sertifikat Laik Fungsi, PBG and SLF).[1:1] The basic requirements must be met before a business licence is issued, and a business that will construct a building must hold both the environmental approval and the building approval.[2:1] The SLF follows construction: PP 28/2025 requires the certificate to be obtained before a building may be used.[9]

For activities that require an environmental impact assessment (Amdal) or the lighter UKL-UPL, a technical approval (persetujuan teknis) is an administrative condition of the application for environmental approval, and one of the matters it may cover is compliance with wastewater quality standards.[10]

Effluent and technology standards

Permen LH 11/2025, the regulation on wastewater quality standards and wastewater treatment technology standards for domestic wastewater, governs both the quality of domestic wastewater discharge and the technology used to treat it. It was signed on 4 September 2025 and took effect on its promulgation on 9 September 2025.[3:1] It revoked the 2016 predecessor, Permen LHK 68/2016, which had set quality standards but no technology standards, together with the domestic and sanitary wastewater provisions of Permen LH 19/2010 on the oil, gas and geothermal sector.[11][12] Domestic wastewater treated before release to the environment must satisfy both the quality standards (Baku Mutu Air Limbah) and the technology standards (Standar Teknologi Pengolahan Air Limbah).[13]

Pasal 2 requires treatment before wastewater is released or reused. An activity that hands its wastewater to a treatment service is released from that obligation, and one that discharges into an available sewer is exempt from the quality standards.[13:1][14] The desludging and grease-separation obligations must be written into the environmental approval or the SPPL,[6:1] the statement of commitment to manage and monitor the environment that PP 28/2025 prescribes for activities falling under neither the Amdal nor the UKL-UPL criteria.[15]

Technical design standard

Lampiran III of Permen LH 11/2025 requires an activity producing no more than 3 cubic metres of wastewater a day to install a septic-tank package or treatment unit certified to an Indonesian National Standard, or to build one to such a standard. It names SNI 2398:2017 as an example (misalnya) for proportioning the tank, and lists the standard as its septic-tank reference in the design criteria for installations of more than 3 cubic metres a day.[4:1]

The standard, which revises SNI 03-2398-2002, governs the design of septic tanks together with a subsequent treatment stage, for installations serving at most 50 people. It defines the septic tank as a watertight chamber (kedap air), and defines watertightness as the condition of admitting no water and permitting none to pass. Its design criteria set a detention time of two to three days, sludge accumulation of 30 to 40 litres per person per year, and a desludging interval of two to five years, from which tank volume is computed.[16] The options it provides for the further treatment stage are a soakaway well (sumur resapan), an infiltration field (bidang resapan), an up-flow filter, or a planted treatment bed (taman sanita).[16:1]

The annex departs from the standard on two points. Besides requiring watertight construction, it forbids letting the effluent seep into the ground (efluennya tidak boleh diresapkan), and it calculates the tank's volume on a retention time of at least three days.[4:2] SNI 2398:2017 specifies two to three days, and provides for infiltration-based further treatment rather than forbidding it.[16:2] The prohibition on infiltration and the three-day minimum therefore rest on the ministerial annex rather than on the standard it names.[4:3]

Effluent limits

Lampiran I of Permen LH 11/2025 sets effluent limits in separate tables for discharge to a water body, discharge to drainage or irrigation channels, and reuse; the water-body table is graded by the volume of wastewater an activity produces. A separate table covers toilet wastewater treated at an integrated faecal-sludge treatment plant. For discharge to a water body the limits include a pH range of 6 to 9 and a faecal-coliform limit of 1,000 MPN per 100 mL in every volume class.[5:1] The 2016 regulation it replaced, P.68/2016, had set limits for domestic wastewater of 30 mg/L for biochemical oxygen demand, 100 mg/L for chemical oxygen demand, 30 mg/L for total suspended solids, and 3,000 per 100 mL for total rather than faecal coliform.[12:1]

Desludging obligations

Permen LH 11/2025 places the desludging obligations on the generator of the wastewater rather than on the service that empties the tank. Under Pasal 7, an activity producing no more than 3 cubic metres a day that uses the technology standard must have its faecal sludge emptied and recorded according to the capacity of its unit, must hand its faecal sludge and wastewater over to licensed transport or treatment services, and must treat its wastewater with standardised technology.[6:2] Pasal 8 requires a grease separator wherever domestic wastewater contains oil and fat, with the separated material handed to a licensed third party.[6:3] Faecal-sludge treatment services are themselves bound to treat the wastewater they receive.[13:2]

Compliance timeline

Under Pasal 12 of Permen LH 11/2025, activities already under way when the regulation took effect on 9 September 2025, and whose effluent standards do not conform to it, must amend their environmental approval or, where only an SPPL is required, adjust their effluent monitoring. The amendment is made without amending the technical approval for meeting the effluent standards, and the obligation must be met within two years, by 9 September 2027.[7:1]

See also

Part of a series on Wastewater and sanitation regulation in Indonesia
AIIRA · Inpres 1/2024 · Permen LH 11/2025 · Permen LH 12/2025 · Permen LH 19/2010 · Permen LH 26/2012 · Permen LH 3/2010 · Permen LH 9/2006 · Permen LHK 16/2019 · Permen LHK 21/2018 · Permen LHK 5/2014 · Permen LHK 5/2018 · Permen LHK 5/2021 · Permen LHK 5/2022 · Permen LHK 68/2016 · Permen LHK 80/2019 · Permen LHK 93/2018 · Permen PU 11/2014 · Permen PUPR 21/2021 · PP 28/2025 · Septic tank regulation in Indonesia · Water and sanitation bill of Indonesia
Identifiers Know ID K21
Categories Sanitation in Indonesia · Environmental law of Indonesia
What links here (9)

References

  1. [P] Peraturan Pemerintah No. 28 Tahun 2025 tentang Penyelenggaraan Perizinan Berusaha Berbasis Risiko, Pasal 12 ayat (1): "Persyaratan dasar sebagaimana dimaksud dalam Pasal 4 ayat (2) meliputi: a. KKPR; b. PL; dan c. PBG dan SLF." Signed and promulgated 5 June 2025; LN 2025/98, TLN 7115. regulation_id PP_28_2025. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/319773/pp-no-28-tahun-2025 ↩︎ ↩︎

  2. [P] PP 28/2025, Pasal 4 ayat (2) (the business licence is obtained "setelah Pelaku Usaha melakukan pemenuhan persyaratan dasar terlebih dahulu") and Pasal 11 ayat (3) (a business that will construct a building "wajib memiliki persyaratan dasar dalam bentuk PL dan PBG"). regulation_id PP_28_2025. ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. [P] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup/Badan Pengendalian Lingkungan Hidup No. 11 Tahun 2025 tentang Baku Mutu Air Limbah dan Standar Teknologi Pengolahan Air Limbah untuk Air Limbah Domestik. Signed 4 September 2025; promulgated 9 September 2025, Berita Negara 2025 No. 678; in force on promulgation (Pasal 15). Full text, including the three annexes, held as regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025; the promulgation date and Berita Negara number are legible only in a second, body-only copy, regulation_id PERMEN_LH_11_2025. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/345620/permen-lhbplh-no-11-tahun-2025 ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. [P] Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 6 and Lampiran III, section A.1 (no more than 3 m³ a day: "Pembangunan sebagaimana dimaksud pada huruf a dan huruf b harus kedap air dan efluennya tidak boleh diresapkan"; the tank's volume calculated on a retention time of at least three days; SNI 2398:2017 sub-chapter 4.2.1.2 named, misalnya, for tank proportions) and section A.2 (septic tank "Mengacu SNI", "Kedap Air"; SNI 2398:2017 listed as reference 1). regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  5. [P] Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 4 and Lampiran I (standards by type of release; the water-body table A.2 by volume class; a separate table, A.1, for toilet wastewater treated at an integrated faecal-sludge treatment plant). The held text of Lampiran I preserves the parameters, the volume classes, the pH range and the faecal-coliform limit, but not the other numeric cells of the water-body table (among them biochemical and chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, ammonia, detergents, and oil and grease), nor the numeric cells of the faecal-sludge-plant, drainage and reuse tables. regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. [P] Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 7 (obligations of an activity producing no more than 3 m³ a day that uses the technology standard), Pasal 8 (grease separator) and Pasal 9 ayat (1) (both written into the Persetujuan Lingkungan or SPPL). regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. [P] Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 12 ayat (1) to (3), read with Pasal 15 (entry into force on promulgation, 9 September 2025). regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎ ↩︎

  8. [P] PP 28/2025, Pasal 550 huruf b, revoking PP No. 5 Tahun 2021 on the same subject, and Pasal 552 (in force on promulgation, 5 June 2025). regulation_id PP_28_2025. https://peraturan.bpk.go.id/Details/319773/pp-no-28-tahun-2025 ↩︎

  9. [P] PP 28/2025, Pasal 122 ayat (1): "SLF harus diperoleh oleh Pelaku Usaha sebelum Bangunan Gedung dapat dimanfaatkan." regulation_id PP_28_2025. ↩︎

  10. [P] PP 28/2025, Pasal 80 ayat (1) (technical approval an administrative condition of an application for environmental approval with an Amdal or UKL-UPL) and ayat (2) huruf a ("pemenuhan baku mutu air limbah"). regulation_id PP_28_2025. ↩︎

  11. [P] Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 14 huruf a, revoking Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan No. P.68/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/8/2016 tentang Baku Mutu Air Limbah Domestik (Berita Negara 2016 No. 1323), and huruf b, revoking the provisions on domestic wastewater in Lampiran I huruf A angka 3 and on sanitary wastewater in Lampiran I huruf A angka 4 of Peraturan Menteri Negara Lingkungan Hidup No. 19 Tahun 2010 (Berita Negara 2010 No. 582). regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎

  12. [P] Peraturan Menteri Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan No. P.68/MENLHK-SETJEN/2016 tentang Baku Mutu Air Limbah Domestik (cited in Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 14, as P.68/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/8/2016), Lampiran I (BOD 30 mg/L, COD 100 mg/L, TSS 30 mg/L, oil and grease 5 mg/L, ammonia 10 mg/L, total coliform 3,000 per 100 mL). It contains no technology standard; its Pasal 4 ayat (2) sets technical requirements, including watertight treatment installations and sewers. Berita Negara 2016 No. 1323. regulation_id PERMENLHK_68_2016. ↩︎ ↩︎

  13. [P] Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 2 ayat (1) to (4) (treatment before release and before reuse; extension to jasa pengolah Air Limbah and jasa pengolah lumpur tinja; release from the obligation for an activity that hands its wastewater to those services) and Pasal 3 (quality and technology standards both required). regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  14. [P] Permen LH 11/2025, Pasal 5 (exemptions from the quality standards). regulation_id PERMENKLHBPH_11_2025. ↩︎

  15. [P] PP 28/2025, Pasal 78 ayat (2) and ayat (3) huruf c (SPPL for activities without an important environmental impact that fall under neither the Amdal nor the UKL-UPL criteria). regulation_id PP_28_2025. ↩︎

  16. [P] SNI 2398:2017, Tata cara perencanaan tangki septik dengan pengolahan lanjutan (sumur resapan, bidang resapan, up flow filter, kolam sanita), Badan Standardisasi Nasional, 2017; ICS 91.140.70. Scope (cl. 1, max. 50 users); definitions 3.10 (kedap air) and 3.17 (tangki septik); design criteria cl. 4.2.1.1.1 (waktu detensi 2–3 hari; lumpur 30–40 L/orang/tahun; periode pengurasan 2–5 tahun); revises SNI 03-2398-2002. Full text consulted at https://www.forkalim.or.id/filependukung/sni-2398_2017_tentang_Tata_cara_perencanaan_tangki_septik.pdf ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎