South Kitsap outside the city: water, sewer, septic

South Kitsap has no single water supplier; the Kitsap PUD boundary map is the first stop, Kitsap Public Health District regulates septic, and Kitsap County Community Development takes plumbing applications.

Sheet revised November 4, 2026

Which water system serves Manchester, Burley, Olalla or Long Lake?

No office we found answers that by community name, so go parcel by parcel. Kitsap PUD publishes a retail service area map drawn from the county's Coordinated Water System Plan, last updated October 12, 2020.

We found only a little:

• Kitsap PUD runs 51 domestic water systems across more than 400 square miles, all on groundwater wells. One PUD alert refers to Long Lake View Estates in Port Orchard, which shows it operates there and no further.
• Manchester Water District appears as a separate purveyor in the county's 2005 water plan and on a City of Port Orchard page.
• Washington Water's list includes Olalla Housing and Southworth View Tracts. Those are named systems, not whole communities.

A county bulletin says public utilities serve about 80% of Kitsap residents, so a private well is possible. The private wells page covers testing. Seawater surrounds the peninsula, which is the main reason USGS calls its groundwater limited; more pumping raises the risk of falling water levels and of salt water moving in. That is a general statement, not a finding about any one well.

Sewer or septic on your lot

Kitsap County Public Works has a Manchester sewer basin, one of four county basins, each with its own plant and collection system. West Sound Utility District issues sewer availability commitments, valid three years, for Kitsap County properties. If neither reaches you, expect septic, and use how to tell which you have.

The health district's rules were updated effective March 17, 2025. Its page lists standard systems as inspected every 3 years and alternative systems at least annually. Since May 1, 2008, a property on septic needs a Property Conveyance Inspection before sale; the steps are on selling a septic house. Shoreline sampling for fecal pollution covers Manchester and Southworth, and the district counts failing septic systems among Kitsap's main pollution sources.

When county plumbing work needs a permit

Plumbing work generally does, the county's guidance says, with exceptions that include stopping a leak or swapping a sink, tub or shower. A project with no building permit may still need a plumbing one. A building permit application for a structure with plumbing fixtures is not complete without evidence of adequate water and sewage disposal from an approved agency.

Kitsap Public Health offers homeowner certification for septic inspection. Our own advice still stands: nobody climbs into a tank or pit, and lids are best left to a certified pumper or monitoring company.