Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or drains. May patch walls and partitions of tank, replace damaged drain tile, or repair breaks in underground piping.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Operations Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Active Listening
- Equipment Maintenance
- Troubleshooting
- Repairing
- Quality Control Analysis
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Transportation
- Mechanical
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Mathematics
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Drive trucks to transport crews, materials, and equipment.
- Communicate with supervisors and other workers, using equipment such as wireless phones, pagers, or radio telephones.
- Prepare and keep records of actions taken, including maintenance and repair work.
- Operate sewer cleaning equipment, including power rodders, high-velocity water jets, sewer flushers, bucket machines, wayne balls, and vac-alls.
- Measure excavation sites, using plumbers' snakes, tapelines, or lengths of cutting heads within sewers, and mark areas for digging.
- Locate problems, using specially designed equipment, and mark where digging must occur to reach damaged tanks or pipes.
- Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or related structures such as manholes, culverts, and catch basins.
- Service, adjust, and make minor repairs to equipment, machines, and attachments.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (40.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (34.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (42.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | High | Higher on contact with others than 69% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 89% of occupations compared | 60% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | High | Higher on teamwork than 67% of occupations compared | 52% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 57% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 53% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 69% of occupations compared | 32% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 65% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 7.63%
- Contact with others most of the time: 24.7%
- Constant contact with others: 67.67%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0.2%
- Important: 15.87%
- Very important: 23.75%
- Extremely important: 60.17%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 6.67%
- Very important: 41.16%
- Extremely important: 52.17%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 10.72%
- Limited freedom: 22.27%
- Some freedom: 16.92%
- A lot of freedom: 50.08%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 0.2%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 10.58%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.29%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.81%
- Every day: 27.12%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 1.31%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 40.79%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.49%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.22%
- Every day: 8.18%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 6.66%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 20.28%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 32.47%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 32.35%
- Every day: 8.24%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 13.53%
- Fairly serious: 39.33%
- Serious: 23.85%
- Very serious: 13.07%
- Extremely serious: 10.21%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 47-4071.00 · SOC 47-4071 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8