News, notes and commentary on recent reporting involving the septic service industry:
Please stay out of the septic tank
The media needs to do its homework about septic safety and act more responsibly when reporting on the dangers of exposure to wastewater.
In a warm-and-fuzzy human interest story, Fox 13 News in Lakeland, Florida, shared how a local couple looked for an engagement ring they thought had accidentally been flushed down the toilet 20 years ago. The happy ending was that the ring turned up recently when an old toilet was replaced, falling out of the fixture when it was removed.
The scary part of the story was when the couple matter-of-factly said they entered the septic tank to look for the ring at the time it was lost. This is a cringeworthy moment for pumpers, who know of the dangers of entering a septic tank without personal protection equipment and training for working in confined spaces.
In this instance, the wife made light of going into the septic tank and the reporter played along rather than using this experience as a teaching moment about the extreme risk the woman was taking.
“I climbed down into the septic tank with a hose that I had to suck up everything that was down there, and I pumped it through a hose over a screen, a window screen, into a 55-gallon drum,” the woman explained in the news report.
If the newsroom did its due diligence and connected with a wastewater professional, the reporter could have explained how exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas often present in septic tanks could quickly overcome and cause the death of anyone venturing into a tank without the proper training and safety gear.
Without that instruction, viewers of this story might believe it’s perfectly fine to enter the septic tank if they inadvertently flush jewelry or have an issue with septic system performance. This is just one case where the media should be taken to task for incomplete reporting that could endanger the general public.
This situation brings to mind recent reports I’ve seen out of India, which has a serious issue with workers dying while cleaning septic tanks with no safety equipment. The Indian government made the common practice called “manual scavenging” illegal. That’s where septic workers enter tanks and scoop out waste because there is little infrastructure for proper pumping.
The Indian press recently issued a report stating that more than 400 of these workers died between 2018 and 2023, with as many as 84 dying in one year, 2022. These horrible cases have been reported almost weekly in recent years.
We in the Pumper community should do our part to raise awareness of the dangers of entering a septic tank, as well as the importance of hiring a professional when this becomes necessary to find a ring or complete a septic system repair. If you see a cute, but incomplete feature story in your community like the one out of Florida, step up and call the media outlet to explain why folks shouldn’t just drop a ladder and enter the septic tank; then recommend they call a septic service professional.
Free septic pumping — a good idea?
It was interesting to learn about a government program sponsored by Roanoke County and the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission in Virginia offering residents free pumping service. More and more I’ve been seeing offers for discounts on pumping, deferred payments or grants or loans to cover partial costs of septic repairs. But these programs are not typically free.
A story from WDBJ TV-7 News explained that the county and commission were holding workshops to teach residents why it’s important to stay on top of septic system maintenance to extend the life of their systems and protect the environment.
“If you fail to pump [septic tanks] out over time, the sludge is … eventually causing a potential backup into your home or into your yard,” said Cindy Linkenhoker, the Roanoke County Stormwater Program manager. Pretty basic stuff, but it’s always good to reinforce the message pumpers share with their customers every day.
The free pumpouts are available to residents who earn less than 200% of the federal poverty level. Checking online, the federal poverty level for a family of four is currently $31,200, so qualifying Virginia families would have to have annual incomes lower than $62,400.
If it takes free pumpouts in some instances to push homeowners toward proper septic system care, it may be worth the public investment. The result is better than waiting for overburdened septic systems to fail and create financial catastrophes that families may not be able to recover from. But I wish a message about setting aside funds for this very important piece of home maintenance would gain more traction. This expense should be accounted for just like monthly utility bills.
A good lesson: Abandon septic tanks properly
A recent story out of California has me wondering if some pumpers, system installers or city sewer crews are letting abandoned septic tanks “fall through the cracks,” so to speak. It’s alarming to think that an old septic tank is just covered over and forgotten when either a new onsite system is built on a property or a home with an existing system is hooked up to the municipal sewer. But it has to be happening.
According to a report by ABC 15 News in San Bernardino, California, a 39-year-old mother of four was walking in her yard when she suddenly plunged 25 feet into an abandoned septic tank. She was trapped for two hours before a rescue crew with a tripod, rope and winch could bring her out of the tank. Luckily she suffered only minor injuries.
It’s bad enough that one woman had to go through this traumatic experience. But a spokesperson for the San Bernardino Fire Department reported that the search and rescue team responds to calls like this one several times a year. This is not acceptable. And it indicates a refresher on the best ways to abandon a septic tank is in order.
The septic system experts who’ve written for Pumper over the years have noted two best practices for decommissioning an old concrete tank. The first is filling the tank with stone or sand and the second is exposing the tank lid, crushing it inward and then filling the void with stone, gravel or soil. The same processes can be followed for the odd steel tank you may encounter, but it may be better to pull the entire tank out of the ground and backfill.
What steps do you take to abandon a tank? Drop me a line at editor@pumper.com and share your tips and tricks. I’ll pass them along in a future column.
Dealing with disposal sticker shock
We’ve been reporting on treatment plant rate increases and the surprising anecdotes just keep coming. North Carolina’s WWAY TV-3 talked to pumper Jacob Hewett of Robinson’s Septic Tank about the recent 150% dumping fee increase he’s had to pay at the West Brunswick Reclamation Facility.
Hewett explained that the bill for a truckload of waste jumped from $80 to $200 and he’s had to pass along the increase to his customers. One customer interviewed complained that there was no warning about the increases and she called several other pumpers and they gave her the same bad news.
According to the report, Brunswick County said its operations and maintenance costs at the treatment plant have increased. The county reported having to invest $55,000 to process the increased volume of septage it was receiving.
Pumpers nationwide are dealing with this new reality in the cost of doing business. It continues to reveal that disposal is the biggest issue facing the septic service industry. If you look inside this issue for the NAWT News column, you will learn that the National Association of Wastewater Technicians is partnering with the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association and Portable Sanitation Association International to address this challenge. The trade groups have formed the National Septage Disposal Crisis Alliance, and we look forward to following their progress.
