Septic Tank Pumping in Parker County, TX

• The county's Permitting Department describes its first duty as regulating and permitting on-site sewage facilities in the unincorporated area of Parker County. Its 2007 OSSF order, approved by TCEQ under Health and Safety Code section 366.031, applies outside incorporated cities except where a city has signed an intergovernmental contract with the county.
• Census 2020 place data list Aledo, Annetta, Annetta North, Annetta South, Azle, Cool, Cresson, Hudson Oaks, Millsap, Reno, Sanctuary, Springtown, Weatherford and Willow Park among the incorporated places in the county, with parts of Fort Worth and Mineral Wells. Peaster, Poolville and Brock do not appear among the county's Census places.
• TCEQ lists the City of Mineral Wells program as administered by Palo Pinto County, so a house inside Mineral Wells city limits is handled by Palo Pinto County, not Parker County.
• When you send a request, say whether the system is aerobic with sprinklers or a conventional tank and field, and include any gate code.

• Pumping aerobic units when sludge depth or the manufacturer's schedule calls for it
• Pump-outs on conventional tank-and-trench systems
• Aerobic inspections every four months under a maintenance contract
• Chlorinator refills with calcium hypochlorite tablets certified for wastewater
• Fixing sprinkler heads, aerators and alarms flagged in a maintenance report
• Tank pump-outs before a system is abandoned, which must go to a registered transporter
• Records checks for buyers taking over an aerobic system and its contract

• An August 1999 Texas A&M AgriLife fact sheet (L-5234) priced a conventional installation between $2,000 and $6,000, citing soil type and house size among the factors, and upkeep near $75 a year, figured on a three-year pumping interval. Those are 1999 dollars.
• Aerobic upkeep is more than pumping: 30 TAC 285.7 requires a two-year initial service policy from the date the system is first used, and Table IV of 285.91 calls for inspection at least once every four months for any system with surface application.
• Third-party estimate, not local data: HomeAdvisor's cost page (revised June 17, 2026) gives a national range of $292 to $565 and an average of $428 for pumping.
• Hauler overhead: TCEQ charges each registered sludge transporter a $10 sticker fee per vehicle plus an annual fee of $100 to $500 that scales with the amount of waste hauled.
• Permits after a failure: the county charges $480 for a conventional or aerobic OSSF permit. State law adds a $10 fee for each on-site permit application, forwarded to TCEQ (Health and Safety Code 367.010); the county does not say whether its $480 includes it.

• What the county wants with an application: state-approved forms; a site and soil evaluation by a sanitarian, engineer, or designated representative holding a site evaluator license; a design by a licensed installer, sanitarian or engineer (aerobic designs need a sanitarian or engineer); a plat or survey with the legal description and lot size; and the $480 fee. An aerobic permit also needs a service contract signed by both parties and a certified copy of the notarized affidavit after it is filed with the County Clerk.
• Timing: the department says it will approve or deny an application within five days, problem resolution can take up to 30 days, and a denial comes in writing. Until approval is confirmed, no physical part of a system may be installed, and the county does not accept incomplete applications.
• Stricter local rules: Section 10 of the county's order sets a minimum lot size of one acre regardless of water source, where 30 TAC 285.4 allows half-acre lots in subdivisions on public water. The same section requires every on-site sewage facility in the county to be permitted, although Health and Safety Code 366.052 waives the state permit sections for a single home on a tract of 10 acres or more whose field line stays at least 100 feet from the property line.
• Owner maintenance: after the two-year policy, state law (Health and Safety Code 366.0515(g)) and 30 TAC 285.7 let a single-family owner either maintain an aerobic system personally or sign a new contract. TCEQ warns that some permitting authorities bar homeowner maintenance, and Parker County's order allows it only when the owner is certified by the system's manufacturer or is a licensed installer certified by that manufacturer.
• Who may pump: 30 TAC 285.39 directs owners to have treatment tanks pumped regularly so sludge does not spill into the next tank or outlet, and to hire only transporters registered with TCEQ. A registered hauler shows its five-digit TCEQ number on both doors or both sides of the tank in block numbers at least 2 inches tall, and must return a completed copy of the trip ticket to the generator within 15 days after the disposal facility accepts the waste.
• Deed record: before an authorization to construct is issued for a system listed in 285.91(12), 30 TAC 285.3 requires the owner to record an affidavit in the county deed records, which is the affidavit the county asks to see filed.

• Bedrock: USGS's geologic map summary for Parker County shows Paluxy Sand at the surface across 38 percent of the county, the Twin Mountains Formation across 14 percent, Goodland Limestone and Walnut Clay undivided across 9 percent and Walnut Clay across 8 percent, all Early Cretaceous.
• Soils named for the county: NRCS describes the Weatherford series, typed west of the courthouse on U.S. Highway 180, as deep, well drained and moderately permeable, formed from sandstone and siltstone. The Windthorst series, typed 5.2 miles southwest of the courthouse, is very deep and moderately well drained with moderately slow permeability.
• Shallow ground: the Aledo series, established in Parker County in 1973, is shallow to very shallow over interbedded limestones and marls.
• Rain: NOAA's 1991–2020 normal at the Weatherford station is 35.18 inches a year. May is the wettest month at 4.42 inches and July the driest at 1.86 inches.

Weatherford (outside city limits) · Aledo · Willow Park · Hudson Oaks · Annetta · Springtown · Poolville · Peaster · Millsap · Brock