Septic Tank Pumping in Florence County, SC

• Coverage includes Lake City, Timmonsville, Pamplico, Johnsonville, Olanta, Coward, Scranton and Effingham.
• Crews run I-95, I-20, US 52, US 76, US 301 and US 378 across the county.
• Before you call: have the property plat or deed handy if you're planning a new system; SCDES asks for it with the application.
• Other Southeast counties on this site: Union County, NC and Douglas County, GA.
• Lake City and the farm country east of the county seat are a long haul from the city, so routes are grouped by area to keep travel down.
• Mobile homes on family land are common in the rural county, and their tanks are often small, so they fill faster than a house tank.

• Routine pump-outs on rural homes
• Pumping before a home sale
• Locating tanks and adding risers
• Repairs after a field fails in wet weather
• Pumping for mobile homes
• New system work after an SCDES permit

• Typical pumping: HomeGuide's national pump-out numbers run $300 to $700, scaled at $0.30 to $0.70 a gallon; tanks on Pee Dee farmhouses are often 1,000 gallons.
• State fee: SCDES lists a $150 application fee for a standard residential system, and a new application and fee to renew or change a permit.
• A 1,500-gallon tank at HomeGuide's per-gallon range works out to $450 to $1,050.
• Method: HomeGuide's per-gallon range scaled to your tank, plus the SCDES fee. Long drives to river-bottom homes and local disposal fees add cost.

• Step 1, apply: file form D-1740 online through the SCDES ePermitting portal; SCDES lists a $150 application fee.
• Step 2, evaluation: SCDES evaluates the site and issues a Permit to Construct if it's approved.
• Step 3, timing: SCDES says permits to construct are good for five years; renewal means a new application and fee.
• Step 4, rules: the fee and permit are authorized by Regulation 61-56, Onsite Wastewater Systems, in Chapter 61 of the South Carolina Code of Regulations.
• Step 5, final inspection: the installer documents the work on SCDES form D-4432.

• Coastal Plain sand: much of the county has sandy soils over clay subsoil, with a seasonal high water table that limits trench depth.
• USDA NRCS soil survey data rate 81.5% of the Florence County survey area (SC041) as very limited for septic absorption fields and 17.3% somewhat limited.
• Floodplains along the Great Pee Dee and Lynches rivers and low Carolina bays across the county hold water after heavy rain.
• Census ACS counts about 62,090 housing units with a median year built of 1986.
• Hurricanes and tropical storms bring heavy rainfall; avoid pumping into a flooded field unless the system is backing up.
• Reading the soil: sand near the Great Pee Dee River and along the Lynches River floodplain sits over a shallow water table, and the low Carolina bays east of Florence hold standing water after storms. Sandy loam on the higher ground around Timmonsville and Olanta drains better, though clay subsoil a few feet down can still perch water above a field.
• Tobacco and row-crop farms surround many rural homes, and older farmhouses often have tanks that were installed before records were kept, so locating the lid comes first.
• Rainfall is heavy in summer thunderstorms and tropical systems, and fields near ditches and canals can flood quickly, so a pump-out right after a storm may only bring short relief.

Lake City · Timmonsville · Pamplico · Johnsonville · Olanta · Coward · Scranton · Effingham