"Family Matters" Through good and bad economic times, Shea Slade has always been able to count on the people who matter most to his upstate New York pumping business.

Fortified by the belief that if you can change a baby's diaper, you can clean portable restrooms, Kathy O'Brien of Nunda, N.Y., came into the industry with no experience. Her husband, Sean, a welding shop supervisor, pumped septic tanks on evenings and weekends.

The mechanically inclined crew at Arizona's Casa Grande Pumping Service turns wrenches and builds revenue no matter the economic outlook.

Utah's Renegade Oil takes on undesirable pumping work and creates a profitable and satisfying recycling business.

Masport Inc. specializes in vacuum pumps and components. It introduced the VK650 fan-cooled vacuum/pressure pump at the 2011 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo.

Pump That Septic/Dig-It Excavating is profiled in the March issue of Pumper Magazine.