Septic questions for Schertz & the Hill Country edge.

For a conventional system, the TCEQ recommends pumping every three to five years. The right interval for your home depends on tank size, how many people live there and how much water you use.

A small tank in a full house may need pumping more often; a large tank with one or two people may go longer. The surest way to set a schedule is to have the sludge and scum layers checked at a pump-out and plan the next one from what was found.

Aerobic tanks are pumped when the sludge gets deep enough, not on a fixed calendar. TCEQ says the timing depends on sludge depth and the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Your maintenance provider checks sludge during routine visits. Pumping the trash tank on time keeps solids out of the aeration chamber, where they cause most aerobic problems.

Everything: the sludge settled on the bottom, the scum floating on top and the liquid in between.

A pump-out that only takes the liquid leaves the solids behind and buys very little time. Ask that the whole tank be pumped, including breaking up and removing the scum layer.

No. Pumping empties the tank, which can relieve a backup for a while, but it doesn’t repair a drain field that has stopped absorbing water.

If backups return soon after pumping, or the ground over the field stays wet, the field or a line needs attention. Regular pumping is what keeps a field from failing in the first place.

The pumping itself is usually the quick part, depending on tank size; finding and uncovering the lids is what takes time.

Lids buried a foot or more down have to be dug out on every visit. That’s the main reason to install risers.

When possible, pump in drier weather. A tank in saturated ground is surrounded by water, and some tanks can shift or float when emptied into wet soil.

In a true emergency, call anyway: we’ll look at the conditions before pumping.

Slow drains throughout the house, gurgling in the pipes, sewage odor in the yard, wet or unusually green ground over the tank or field, and toilets that back up are the common signs.

One slow drain is usually a plumbing clog. Several fixtures slowing at once points to the tank, the effluent filter or the line to the tank.

Stop using water, keep people and pets out of the area, and call (830) 865-6952. Sewage is a health hazard.

Don’t run the washing machine or dishwasher, and don’t keep flushing. Avoid touching the sewage, and wash hands well if you do. The company lists emergency septic service and is open 24 hours.

Never enter a septic tank or lean into an open one. Septic gases, including hydrogen sulfide and methane, and the lack of oxygen can kill in moments, including people who try to help.

Keep lids secured, and keep children and pets away from any open tank. Leave the opening and inspection to a trained crew with the right equipment.

It usually means the water level in the pump tank is too high or the air pump isn’t working. Cut back water use and call for service.

Don’t open the control panel or work on the wiring: it carries live power. Some alarms can be silenced with a button on the panel, but the cause still needs to be found.

A sewage smell outside usually comes from a loose or cracked lid, a full tank, or effluent surfacing over the drain field.

Keep people and pets away from any wet area that smells of sewage, and call. A brief smell near the roof vent on a still day is often normal.

Yes. The company’s Google profile lists it as open 24 hours, seven days a week.

One customer wrote that she called early on a Sunday morning and had her tank pumped within three hours. Call (830) 865-6952 and you’ll get a time.

A conventional system is a tank plus a drain field: solids settle in the tank and the liquid soaks into the soil, which treats it. An aerobic system adds air and bacteria to treat the wastewater before it leaves, then usually sprays or drips it over the yard.

Aerobic systems are used where the soil can’t treat wastewater well enough on its own, such as thin soil over rock or slow-draining clay, both common in this area.

The site and soil evaluation and the permit. In Texas, a site evaluator, registered sanitarian or professional engineer studies the soil, and the system is designed to match it and approved by the local permitting office.

In this area that office is Guadalupe County Environmental Health, the Comal County Engineer’s Office, Hays County Development Services or Bexar County, depending on where the lot is.

TCEQ requires maintenance reports on aerobic systems at least once every four months, or every six months if the system has an electronic monitor.

Your permitting office may set stricter rules. Hays County, for example, requires a two-year initial maintenance contract for aerobic and other advanced systems.

Under TCEQ rules, homeowners can take over maintenance two years after the system is installed, unless the local permitting authority is stricter.

Check with your county before dropping a contract. Doing it yourself still means checking the system, keeping the chlorinator stocked and keeping records.

Use calcium hypochlorite tablets certified for wastewater disinfection. Never use swimming-pool tablets.

TCEQ warns that pool tablets are a different chemical and can react dangerously in a septic chlorinator. The right tablets are sold specifically for septic systems.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality writes the state’s septic rules (30 TAC Chapter 285) and licenses installers, maintenance providers and site evaluators.

Most permits and inspections are handled by local authorized agents, usually the county, which can adopt stricter rules than the state’s.

It’s the line of faults where the Texas Hill Country drops to the coastal plain, running past San Marcos, New Braunfels and the San Antonio area. West of it the soil is thin over limestone; east of it, deep blackland clay.

Each needs a different kind of septic system, and the Edwards Aquifer, which surfaces at Comal Springs and San Marcos Springs, sits along the line.

On the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, TCEQ requires planning materials for new systems from a professional engineer or professional sanitarian, at least one acre per single-family home, and set-backs of 50 feet for tanks and 150 feet for drain fields from recharge features such as caves and sinkholes.

Lots platted before certain dates are exempt from the one-acre minimum: March 26, 1974 in Bexar and Comal counties, and June 21, 1984 in Hays County. A separate TCEQ Edwards Aquifer protection plan may still apply to building on the lot.

The TCEQ’s Edwards rules cover parts of Bexar, Comal and Hays counties here, so parts of the New Braunfels, San Marcos and Canyon Lake areas and the Comal and Bexar edges of Schertz can be affected. Seguin, Marion, Geronimo and New Berlin are in Guadalupe County, which isn’t covered.

Being in an affected county doesn’t mean your lot is on the recharge zone. TCEQ’s Edwards Aquifer map viewer shows the zone for a given address.

Guadalupe County Environmental Health, at 310 IH 10 West in Seguin. A permit is required to construct, alter, repair, extend or operate a septic system in the county.

The site and soil evaluation is done by a registered sanitarian, site evaluator or professional engineer. Reconnecting a home to an existing system requires the original permit.

The Comal County Engineer’s Office, Environmental Health, at 195 David Jonas Drive in New Braunfels.

Its application asks whether the lot is over the Edwards recharge zone, in a floodplain, or in a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flowage easement around Canyon Lake, so those questions are worth answering early.

A drain field needs enough soil to filter and treat wastewater before it reaches rock. Around Canyon Lake there is often only a shallow layer of soil over limestone.

That’s why aerobic systems and engineered designs are common there. On any system over limestone, keeping solids out of the field by pumping on schedule is part of protecting the groundwater.

Blackland clay, such as the Houston Black soil, absorbs water slowly once it’s wet and swells, so a drain field can saturate after rain.

In dry summers the same clay shrinks and cracks, which can shift pipes. Conventional fields here need plenty of area, and aerobic spray systems are common.

An effluent filter sits in the tank outlet and stops solids from leaving the tank and clogging the drain field. Most need cleaning at every pump-out, and some households need it more often.

A clogged filter backs water up into the house even when the tank isn’t full. Filter cleaning is one of the services this company lists.

A riser is a short pipe section that brings a buried tank lid up to ground level, with a secured cover on top. For most homes it’s worth it.

Without risers, every pump-out starts with digging. With them, service is faster and cleaner. Riser installation is listed on the company’s Google profile at $300.00.

Wipes (even “flushable” ones), grease and cooking oil, paper towels, feminine products, cat litter, medicines, paint and harsh chemicals should stay out of a septic system.

Garbage disposals add solids and shorten the time between pump-outs. A little household cleaner is fine; large amounts of bleach or drain cleaner can kill the bacteria the tank depends on.

They aren’t needed for a healthy system. Normal household waste supplies the bacteria a tank uses.

No additive replaces pumping: solids still build up and still have to be removed.

Keep vehicles, livestock and heavy equipment off the tank and drain field, and keep trees and large shrubs well away.

Weight can crack tanks and crush lines, and roots go after the water in pipes and fields. Grass is the best cover over a drain field.

Start with the permit or as-built drawing from your county, which often shows the system layout. The tank is usually within a few yards of where the main sewer line leaves the house.

A technician can probe for it with a steel rod or locate it from the cleanout. Don’t dig blind near the house: there may be buried utility lines.

Texas has no statewide rule requiring a septic inspection at sale, but buyers, lenders and agents often ask for one, and it’s worth doing.

A general home inspection rarely looks inside the tank. A septic inspection checks the tank, the lines and how the system handles water, and shows whether pumping or repairs are due.

Early in your option period, so there’s time to act on what’s found.

Ask the seller for the septic permit, any maintenance contract and pump-out records. For aerobic systems, ask for recent maintenance reports.

Use the TCEQ’s online licensee search to check OSSF installer, maintenance provider and site evaluator licenses by name or number. Companies that haul septage register with TCEQ as sludge transporters.

Ask for the license or registration number before work begins, especially for installation and repairs, which also need a permit from your county.

Ask whether they pump the whole tank, sludge and scum included; whether they’ll clean the effluent filter; whether digging to the lids is included; and where the waste is disposed of.

A good crew will also tell you what they saw while the tank was open.

Yes. The company’s own description says it specializes in septic tank pumping for residential and commercial customers.

Call (830) 865-6952 to talk about your property and how often it needs service.