Off-Grid Living in Sarpy County, Nebraska

If you're eyeing off-grid life in Sarpy County, Nebraska, the first thing I'd tell you is: figure out whose rules actually apply to your parcel. Sarpy County's Planning & Building Department only has zoning and building authority in unincorporated areas, outside the city limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of Papillion, Bellevue, Gretna, La Vista, and Springfield. If your land sits inside one of those ETJs, you're dealing with that city's planning department, not the county. Sarpy County's own online permitting/jurisdiction finder is the tool to check this before you plan anything.

Assuming you're in unincorporated Sarpy County: zoning is district-based, and some agricultural/low-density districts require lot minimums as large as 5 acres, with others set at 2 acres or 1 acre for single-family use. You can't just plant a structure on raw land without a permit from the County Planning Director. I did not find any Sarpy-specific ordinance addressing tiny homes or long-term RV living as a residence, so I'd call this unconfirmed locally, meaning you're likely relying on however the zoning district treats "dwelling" generally, plus whatever discretion county staff apply.

Sarpy County adopted the 2018 International Building, Residential, Plumbing, Mechanical, Energy Conservation, and Fuel Gas Codes (with 2009 ANSI A117.1 accessibility standards), effective mid-2024. No structure or use is legal without a county building permit confirming code compliance. Permits are valid one year and construction must start within six months, per the county's own regulations page.

On septic and greywater, I couldn't locate a Sarpy-specific ordinance for either. That means you should assume the state baseline applies: Nebraska's NDEE regulates onsite wastewater design and installer certification statewide (Title 124), and restricts untreated greywater discharge. Composting toilets as your only sanitation aren't confirmed as accepted here, so I'd ask the county's Planning & Building office directly before committing to that approach.

Rainwater harvesting has no confirmed prohibition at the county or state level, though if you plumb it into your house as a water supply, the adopted International Plumbing Code would govern that installation.

Wells are more clearly regulated. Sarpy County sits within the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District (P-MRNRD), which requires permits for wells pumping over 50 gallons per minute and enforces a 600-foot minimum spacing between domestic wells. Well construction itself also has to meet Nebraska DHHS Title 178 standards, and the NRD recommends testing domestic well water at least every four years.

Bottom line on disconnecting from utilities entirely: I found no blanket county mandate forcing grid or sewer hookup, but the permitting and code regime for structures, water, and waste effectively means every individual system has to independently satisfy applicable code. Full self-sufficiency is legally possible, but not a shortcut around inspections.