Routine
- Septic tank pumping — every 3–5 years; $350–$600 for a standard 1,000-gallon tank, with travel and access priced in
- Septic tank cleaning — for tanks past five years, where a pump-out alone leaves the compacted layer behind
- Septic inspections — $200–$600, including the reporting obligation a buyer inherits with the system
- Tank locating & risers — $350–$700 installed, so the lid is reachable next time
Repair & replace
- Drain field repair — a conventional field needs soil depth, and over Edwards and Glen Rose limestone there is often a few inches of it
- Drain field replacement — $8,000–$20,000, or $15,000–$30,000 depending on design and site access where the site evaluation forces a design
- New septic system installation — $9,000–$18,000 conventional, $12,000–$25,000 aerobic — a permit and an approved plan are required before anyone digs
- Aerobic treatment unit (ATU) service — the contract, the four-month report to the county, and the alarms in between — $200–$450 per year for a maintenance contract, varying with visit frequency and travel
Right now
- Emergency septic service — no permit required to begin, but written notice to the permitting authority within 72 hours
- Commercial & lift stations — grease traps and commercial lift stations across the county
The obligation here is continuous, not periodic
Most of this county is shallow soil over Edwards and Glen Rose limestone. West of I-35 the cover can be a few inches, and fractured rock is the wrong medium twice over: it will not hold effluent long enough to treat it, and it moves water in directions nobody can model. That is why so much of the western county runs an aerobic treatment unit with spray or drip disposal rather than a conventional gravity drain field. Limestone and spray fields.
An aerobic unit is not a five-year pumping cycle. Under Texas rules at 30 TAC Chapter 285 it needs a licensed maintenance provider under contract, and that provider must report to the permitting authority and to the owner at least once every four months — 30 TAC 285.90(3). A lapsed contract is the most common compliance failure in this county, and it is usually discovered at a closing, by the buyer's side. Budget $200–$450 per year for a maintenance contract, varying with visit frequency and travel. Maintenance contracts and reporting.
Who actually permits your system
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality writes the rules, but TCEQ is often not the permitting authority for an on-site sewage facility. Local programs act as TCEQ's authorized agents and may impose requirements more stringent than the state minimum, so the local office is always the last word. A permit and an approved plan are required to construct, alter, repair, extend and operate a system — and operate is on that list, which surprises people.
One exception is worth knowing before you need it: an emergency repair needs no permit to begin, but it must be reported in writing within 72 hours after work begins. Emergency repairs and the 72-hour rule.
The ten-acre question
Large rural tracts raise it constantly, and most owners who believe they qualify have not met all seven conditions. Worth reading the list before designing around an exemption you may not have. The ten acre rule.
East of the corridor the problem inverts: heavy clay that drowns a field in a wet spring, rather than rock that will not hold water at all. Either way the site evaluation sets the design before anyone quotes a number — $9,000–$18,000 for a conventional system, $12,000–$25,000 for an aerobic one, $15,000–$30,000 depending on design and site access where the site forces a design. Sewer is rarely the alternative: Rare in this county — most properties have no main to connect to.
Send the address and what the system is doing and the number comes back before anything is booked.