Septic System Installation in Bixby, OK

Which Bixby Homes Are on Septic?

Bixby started on the south bank of the Arkansas River, around today's downtown. Most of its newer growth went north of the river, toward Tulsa, in subdivisions. The Bixby Public Works Authority runs the city sewer and served about 10,800 sewer connections in 2025.

Older acreage tracts sit south of the river. Bixby Ranch Estates lies in the far south, and Bixhoma Lake Estates sits by Lake Bixhoma. US 64 follows Memorial Drive south through downtown, then bends east toward Leonard. SH 67 runs west on 151st Street, which the city's plan calls the highest capacity road south of the river.

Bixby's fence line takes in about 73 square miles, and about a third of it lies inside the city limits. The rest is county land outside the city, where county zoning applies. In recent years the county has recorded a run of new acreage subdivisions just south of Bixby.

What Bixby Soil Means for a Septic Field

The NRCS rates nearly all of the soil inside Bixby as very limited for a septic absorption field. The most common reason is slow water movement, and flooding comes next. FEMA maps a good share of the city inside the 1 percent annual chance floodplain. That land lines the river and creeks such as Snake Creek and Duck Creek.

Along the river, Choska soils are deep and well drained, but some areas flood once every 5 to 20 years. Other bottom land holds heavy clay, such as Osage and Latanier. The NRCS says Osage drains very slowly, with a water table 6 to 18 inches down from November to May.

South and east of town, the ground rises into stony hills. Hector soils there sit on sandstone bedrock 14 to 20 inches down. Endsaw soils in the same hills drain slowly and hold water 2 to 3 feet down in winter. Rock that shallow leaves little room for conventional lateral lines.

That mix is why the soil test on each lot decides the system. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, does not allow conventional lateral lines in the heaviest clay. Aerobic septic systems with spray heads are allowed in every soil group, so clay lots often end up with one.

The Septic Permit Path for a Bixby Lot

DEQ permits septic systems across Oklahoma, and its Tulsa office covers Bixby. The state process runs in three steps.

First, a soil test and the Report for On-Site Sewage set which systems the lot may use. Second, DEQ issues an Authorization to Construct before the system goes in. Third, the finished system is inspected and approved before anyone uses it.

Bixby adds rules of its own inside the city limits. City code bars a septic system on any lot within 100 feet of a city sewer line. When city land is split or platted for homes on septic, the plans go to DEQ through the city engineer.

Lots near Lake Bixhoma fall under the city's reservoir rules too. Those rules keep a privy or similar receptacle 660 feet from the high water line. Ask the city how that applies before you plan a system near the lake.

New Homes on Acreage Around Bixby

Bixby keeps growing. The Census counted 28,609 residents in 2020 and estimated 32,766 by July 2025. The city permitted 449 new single-family homes in 2025. More than half of Bixby's homes date from 2000 or later.

The city's 2030 plan expects growth to move south as the city takes in more land. It also says most growth there will need infrastructure extended first. Until a sewer line reaches a lot, the home needs its own septic system.

On acreage, the septic system is part of the house plan. The soil test comes first, because it sets the system type and where the field can go. DEQ figures the size of the system from the home's bedroom count and the soil. Lateral lines also have to sit at least 5 feet from the house and from a driveway.

Once the home is built, the system needs care. DEQ says a septic tank needs periodic pumping to keep working over the long term. Our septic tank pumping page covers what we check while the tank is open.