Septic Tank Pumping in Clay County, FL

• Clay's incorporated places are Green Cove Springs, the county seat, Keystone Heights, Orange Park and Penney Farms. Middleburg, Fleming Island, Asbury Lake, Lakeside, Oakleaf Plantation and Bellair-Meadowbrook Terrace are Census-designated places, not cities.
• The Clay County Utility Authority (CCUA) publishes a service-area map, and its fee list sets a wastewater connection charge of $4,488.74 per equivalent residential connection, excluding Keystone connections included in FDEP Grant SG481030 and LP0512.
• Requests are taken county-wide. Say whether the house is on CCUA or city sewer or has its own tank, and whether the system is an aerobic unit, which DOH-Clay keeps under an operating permit.

• Routine pump-outs on a three-to-five-year cycle
• Aerobic unit service tied to a DOH-Clay operating permit
• Pumping a tank before it is abandoned for a sewer connection
• Finding a tank and drain field for the site plan that a permit application requires
• Checks on wet flatwoods lots with a water table near the surface
• Backups and high-water alarms

• According to UF/IFAS, pumping a septic tank in Florida generally costs $250 to $400, varying by region; the same sheet says fixing or replacing a system that failed from neglect may run $3,000 to $10,000.
• Third-party estimate: HomeAdvisor's septic pumping guide (updated June 17, 2026) lists $245 to $435 for Jacksonville, the only Florida city in its table, compared with $292–$565 nationally.
• Tank size: Rule 62-6.008, F.A.C. rates a three-bedroom home of 1,201 to 2,250 square feet at 300 gallons a day in Table I, and Table II sets a 900-gallon minimum tank for 201 to 300 gallons a day and 1,050 gallons for 301 to 400.
• If the pump-out reveals a failure, the state's base charges in Rule 62-6.030 (effective June 8, 2026) start with a $50 evaluation. A permit adds $55 and a $5 surcharge, an inspection $75, and each reinspection $50. DOH-Clay notes that what you actually pay, county fees included, depends on the system type and services.
• Disposal: CCUA's fee list charges $121.00 per 1,000 gallons to take septic tank waste at its sewage treatment plant.

• How to apply at DOH-Clay: complete DEP Form 4015, the construction permit application, and turn it in with a site plan, a building floor plan and the fee. A qualified professional has to evaluate the site; DOH-Clay will do it for a fee, or the owner can hire a private provider. For reference, Rule 62-6.030 sets a $100 application fee for a new system and $115 for a site evaluation.
• Operating permits: DOH-Clay requires them for aerobic treatment units, performance-based treatment systems, commercial systems and septic systems on industrial or manufacturing zoned land. Rule 62-6.030 sets the state fee for a two-year aerobic or performance-based operating permit at $100.
• Pumping companies: Rule 62-6.010, F.A.C. says no septic tank may be cleaned or emptied until the service company holds a yearly septage disposal service permit, issued by DEP in the county where the company is located. Rule 62-6.030 sets that permit at $75 a year plus $35 for each pumpout vehicle.
• Trucks and logs: under the same rule the truck needs a tank of at least 1,500 gallons, inspected and approved by DEP before use, and must show the permit number, company name, phone number and tank capacity in permanent letters 3 inches or taller. Magnetic signs don't qualify. Each hauler keeps a collection and hauling log at its main office for five years.
• Separation: a new drain field needs 24 inches between its bottom and the water table at the wettest time of year (Rule 62-6.006). Repairs aim for the same 24 inches; where a site falls short, Table V in Rule 62-6.015 accepts 12 inches or the existing separation, whichever is more, on systems first permitted from 1983 on, and down to 6 inches on older permits.
• Setbacks in Rule 62-6.005: 75 feet from a private drinking water well, 100 feet from a public well serving 2,000 gallons a day or less, 75 feet from surface water, and 5 feet from building foundations and property lines.
• Sewer connection: s. 381.00655, F.S. gives a household 365 days to hook up once the sewer owner notifies it in writing that a line is available, and 90 days after notice from the department if the septic system needs repair. Abandoning the old tank takes a permit, $50 under Rule 62-6.030.

• Basin plan: Clay County, CCUA, Green Cove Springs, Keystone Heights, Orange Park and Penney Farms are all listed as responsible entities in DEP's Lower St. Johns River Main Stem Basin Management Action Plan, a surface-water BMAP whose 2025 final order took effect November 25, 2025.
• What the BMAP changes: since July 1, 2023, section 403.067, F.S. bars a new septic system on a lot of one acre or less where central sewer is available, and where sewer is not available a new system there must be an enhanced nutrient-reducing design that removes at least 65 percent of the nitrogen. DEP's August 2026 table lists no such requirement for repairs to existing systems in surface-water BMAPs.
• Keystone Heights: minutes of the city's May 12, 2026 septic-to-sewer workshop say Section 9-154 of the city code creates a duty to connect once the city clerk gives notice and the property is within 200 feet of a sewer line. A CCUA project in the Doctor's Lake watershed, cost-shared with the St. Johns River Water Management District, moved homes from septic to sewer and was completed in 2023.
• Drainage varies: NRCS's Penney series, typed and established in Clay County in 1986, is excessively drained with rapid permeability. The Ridgewood series, also typed in Clay, is somewhat poorly drained, with a water table at 24 to 40 inches for 2 to 4 months or more in most years and brief rises to 15 to 24 inches.
• Wet ground: in the Meadowbrook and Goldhead series, both established in Clay County in 1986, NRCS describes a water table within 12 inches of the surface for long periods from late summer to spring, and Goldhead depressions stay under water 6 to 9 months in most years.
• Rain: the NOAA 1991–2020 normal at the Keystone Heights 3.5 ENE gauge is 53.72 inches a year, with June the wettest month (8.03 inches) and November the driest (2.12). The Green Cove Springs 6.8 SSE gauge averages 52.86 inches.

Middleburg · Green Cove Springs (unsewered areas) · Keystone Heights · Asbury Lake · Penney Farms · Fleming Island fringe · Lakeside · Bellair-Meadowbrook Terrace fringe