Baltimore County, MD Building Safety: Plumbing Permits (2026)

Section 20-2-113 of the County Code directs the county to formulate, publish and enforce a Plumbing Code and to prescribe the rules and regulations governing use of water and sewer connections and the maintenance and operation of those systems. This section sits within Article 20's water and sewer title, which covers the metropolitan water and sewer district serving nearly all of Baltimore County outside the independent City of Baltimore. Because the county is directed to formulate rules for connections to the public water and sewer systems, any plumber or property owner making or maintaining a water or sewer connection in the county is bound by the resulting Plumbing Code and by whatever rules the county issues under it, in addition to the separate connection notice and cost provisions found earlier in Title 2, such as the Director of Public Works and Transportation's authority to require owners to connect to available water and sewer lines.

The section does not itself list permit fees or inspection schedules, which are set administratively by the department implementing the Plumbing Code, but it is the code-level source of authority for requiring a formulated, published plumbing standard rather than leaving connection work unregulated. Copies of the Plumbing Code and any rules adopted under it are delivered to affected persons, and that delivery is what triggers enforceability of a specific rule against that person.