Seeing a story about local governments helping pay for private septic system upgrades is getting to be a weekly occurrence for me. There’s a pattern of state and county governments – often through their health or environmental departments – offering to help homeowners pay for system repair or replacement.

Two more instances came to my email box over the weekend.

First, in Tom Green County in Texas, A $200,000 community development grant was awarded to help replace failing systems in unincorporated towns. The money is coming from the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Then, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that Washington County officials are considering ways to encourage homeowners to upgrade failing systems in order to protect the water supply. They say grants, low-interest loans or other financial incentives are required to offset the cost of new septic systems 

The stories raise a few questions: Do you believe government support encourages a substantial number of homeowners with failing systems to take action? Have similar programs been tried in your service territory and they’ve generated significant repair and maintenance work for pumpers, and new system work for installers?

Do you have comments on this blog? Respond below or send me an email at editor@pumper.com.