Description
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.
- • Drive trucks to transport crews, materials, and equipment.
- • Communicate with supervisors and other workers, using equipment such as wireless phones, pagers, or radio telephones.
- • Prepare and keep records of actions taken, including maintenance and repair work.
- • Operate sewer cleaning equipment, including power rodders, high-velocity water jets, sewer flushers, bucket machines, wayne balls, and vac-alls.
- • Ensure that repaired sewer line joints are tightly sealed before backfilling begins.
- • Withdraw cables from pipes and examine them for evidence of mud, roots, grease, and other deposits indicating broken or clogged sewer lines.
- • Install rotary knives on flexible cables mounted on machine reels, according to the diameters of pipes to be cleaned.
- • Measure excavation sites, using plumbers' snakes, tapelines, or lengths of cutting heads within sewers, and mark areas for digging.
- • Locate problems, using specially designed equipment, and mark where digging must occur to reach damaged tanks or pipes.
- • Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or related structures such as manholes, culverts, and catch basins.
- • Start machines to feed revolving cables or rods into openings, stopping machines and changing knives to conform to pipe sizes.
- • Service, adjust, and make minor repairs to equipment, machines, and attachments.
- • Inspect manholes to locate sewer line stoppages.
- • Cut damaged sections of pipe with cutters, remove broken sections from ditches, and replace pipe sections, using pipe sleeves.
- • Dig out sewer lines manually, using shovels.
- • Break asphalt and other pavement so that pipes can be accessed, using airhammers, picks, and shovels.
- • Cover repaired pipes with dirt, and pack backfilled excavations, using air and gasoline tampers.
- • Requisition or order tools and equipment.
- • Rotate cleaning rods manually, using turning pins.
- • Clean and disinfect domestic basements and other areas flooded by sewer stoppages.
- • Tap mainline sewers to install sewer saddles.
- • Update sewer maps and manhole charts.
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
