If you attended the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International at the close of February, it’s time to pause, take a deep breath, and start capitalizing on the knowledge you gained in Indianapolis as you prepare for the busy 2012 season.

Many lessons learned during Expo Education Day this year focused on onsite septic system construction, operation and maintenance, editorial themes for this issue of Pumper. Because of a growing inventory of aging septic systems and tightening effluent regulations across the country, onsite system construction and maintenance are especially timely topics.

Whether pumping is your sole stock in trade or you also install and repair systems, I’m confident you’re going to hear more about maintenance contracts, point-of-sale inspections and regulatory changes in the months and years ahead. So we want to piggyback on the information you gathered at the Expo with helpful content about the system beyond the tank you pump.

Here’s a rundown on a few stories in this issue meant to raise awareness about septic system construction and care:

Onsite product roundup

From septic tanks to outlet filters to lids and risers, our product roundup this month recaps industry offerings you’ll need to repair, replace or refresh a customer’s treatment system. If you saw many of these products at the Pumper & Cleaner Expo, this will be a handy reminder of ways you can enhance the performance of an older system, replace a deteriorating original part with something modern and long-lasting, or add to the safety and convenient future service of a system. A certain percentage of the tanks you open this summer will need some sort of upgrade. Our roundup list is aimed at helping you stock the right parts for the job.

Would you like a maintenance contract with that system?

New York-based pumping company Charlton Septic Service rolls up the revenue by offering to install outlet filters and then come back to clean and inspect the filters every six months. It’s a menu offering veteran contractors Kevin and Wendy Loukes added to both boost profits and help customers keep their systems humming along.

Kevin Loukes also has added real estate inspection expertise, and those inspections now make up about 10 percent of Charlton Septic’s billings. “We get a lot of repeat business from inspections. We have established many relationships with local real estate brokers who refer us,’’ Loukes told writer Ken Wysocky in the Contractor Profile story. “Once we complete an inspection, nine out of 10 times the new homeowners will call us back for a maintenance pumping or other repairs.”

A Canadian town embraces system inspections

In the Canadian town of Huron-Kinloss, Ontario, waterfront residents were receptive to a $55 increase in their local taxes to pay for periodic septic system inspections. In our Pumper Interview story, local environmental planner Matt Pearson explains the successful program to writer Scottie Dayton. The town works with five pumpers to record repair and replacement data, and enjoys an excellent response rate from homeowners. In 2011,75 percent of residents contacted made appointments for the inspections. In the first four years of the program, 4 percent of the systems were found to need replacement.

“After the inspection, we mail a package with educational materials and an aerial photo showing the location of the onsite system,’’ Pearson says. “Homeowners really like that.”