Clark County Septic Pumping (house, inspection, income)

[Redbelly]

What is the deal with the prices for septic pumping in Clark County? In Michigan I was paying about 25 cents a gallon, here the price seems to be fixed at 60 cents. That is $750 just to pump a normal household tank. And that is on top of the mandatory 3 year inspection which is another $100.


Has anyone else noticed this anomaly?

[texasdiver]

Maybe their waste disposal fees are higher here than in MI? They have to pay to dump the septic waste someplace.

[Redbelly]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Maybe their waste disposal fees are higher here than in MI? They have to pay to dump the septic waste someplace.

Sure, everyone does across the USA, but more than double?

[StealthRabbit]

You can bet Washington has a lot higher environmental fees than Michigan.

Our non-elected Governor made sure of that. She ran the Department of ecology, before ballooning the state payroll. It cost a lot to feed, clothe, and house that many surplus employees. Iirc, she grew the DoEC by 4x in staffing and budget. Perfect prerequisite to become Governor.

My septic disposal fees in WA are over double my Texas costs.

But.... I have only had to pump one WA tank due to selling property. It tested fine, less than 20% of safety reserve limit after more than 30 yrs of use.

[Redbelly]

OK, thanks for the speculation, but I was hoping someone had an actual answer. If I find anything concrete, I'll post it.

[Ms_Christina]

My guess is taxes. We don't have state income tax and I assume the state taxes other things to make up for that. Again, just a guess, no concrete evidence.

[Redbelly]

Originally Posted by Ms_Christina

My guess is taxes. We don't have state income tax and I assume the state taxes other things to make up for that. Again, just a guess, no concrete evidence.

But the pumping fee doesn't go to the government, it goes to the private companies that pump the tanks.

[MechAndy]

I bet they have to pay the environmental fees but I’m just speculating .

[texasdiver]

The disposal fees do go to the government. I'm guessing that WA has much more expensive and stringent disposal fees for sewage waste than other states and jurisdictions. Water pollution laws are much stricter in WA than most other states and they are concerned about things like salmon stream quality that aren't a consideration in places like say...Texas. And you can't just back your truck up to some stream or pond and pump out the waste. You gotta go to an official sewage pumping station for disposal.

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by Redbelly

But the pumping fee doesn't go to the government, it goes to the private companies that pump the tanks.

Who have to pay to dump it.



Lots of things cost more here than other places. Some is regulation, some is population, some is environmental and infrastructure. The costs are very local, and vary widely around the country.