DETAILED OCCUPATION DATA

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.

Occupational Employment Statistics(OES) Wage Data
Wages Updated to First Quarter, 2020

					Percentiles
Geography	Employment	Emp SE*	Mean	Mean SE*	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th
Minnesota	690	83	$24.09/hr	$1.20/hr	$15.75/hr	$18.37/hr	$24.88/hr	$29.39/hr	$32.71/hr
U S	29,750	1,012	$20.86/hr	$0.21/hr	$12.96/hr	$15.77/hr	$19.45/hr	$24.92/hr	$30.55/hr
*SE = Standard error, a measure of the statistical reliability of the estimate.

Leading Industries for Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners Industry OES Employment OES Median Wage Professional and Business Services 520 $23.00/hr Public Administration 60 $27.98/hr

Other Regional Data For Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners Geography (click title for details) OES Projections Employment Median Wage % Change 2023 - 2025 Minnesota 690 $24.88/hr 2.7% Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington MN-WI MSA 410 $27.07/hr N/A Seven County Mpls-St Paul, MN 400 $27.13/hr N/A Northwest Minnesota 120 $19.01/hr N/A Northwest Balance of State 100 $19.01/hr N/A Central Minnesota 90 $17.15/hr N/A Northeast Minnesota 70 $22.85/hr N/A Duluth MN-WI MSA 70 $22.18/hr N/A Southwest Balance of State 40 $19.03/hr N/A Northeast Balance of State 30 $14.88/hr N/A Southwest Minnesota 30 $20.20/hr N/A Southeast Balance of State 20 $17.78/hr N/A Rochester MN MSA N/A N/A N/A Southeast Minnesota N/A $27.43/hr N/A Mankato-North Mankato MN MSA N/A N/A N/A St Cloud MN MSA N/A N/A N/A Fargo ND-MN MSA N/A N/A N/A La Crosse WI-MN MSA N/A $28.05/hr N/A

• Rotates cleaning rods manually with turning pin.
• Communicates with supervisor and other workers, using radio telephone.
• Updates sewer maps and manhole charting.
• Services, adjusts, and makes minor repairs to equipment, machines, and attachments.
• Drives pickup trucks to haul crew, materials, and equipment.
• Taps mainline sewers to install sewer saddles.
• Requisitions tools and equipment and prepares records showing actions taken.
• Notifies coworkers to dig out ruptured line or digs out shallow sewers, using shovel.
• Breaks asphalt and other pavement, using airhammer, pick, and shovel.
• Covers repaired pipe with dirt and packs backfilled excavation, using air and gasoline tamper.
• Inspects manholes to locate stoppage of sewer line and repaired sewer line joints to ensure tightness, prior to backfilling.
• Measures distance of excavation site, using plumbers' snake, tapeline, or length of cutting head within sewer and marks trenching area.
• Cuts damaged section of pipe with cutters, removes broken section from ditch, and replaces pipe section, using pipe sleeve.
• Starts machine to feed revolving cable or rods into opening, stopping machine and changing knives to conform to pipe size.
• Withdraws cable and observes residue for evidence of mud, roots, grease, and other deposits indicating broken or clogged sewer line.
• Installs rotary knives on flexible cable, mounted on reel of machine, according to diameter of pipe to be cleaned.
• Cleans and disinfects domestic basements and other areas flooded as result of sewer stoppages.
• Cleans sewage collection points and sanitary lines and repairs catch basins, manholes, culverts, and storm drains.
• Operates sewer cleaning equipment, including power rodder, high velocity water jet, sewer flusher, bucket machine, wayne ball, and vac-all.