Septic tank pumping and repair around Little Rock

Not every house around Little Rock drains to a city sewer main. Past the edges of Little Rock and North Little Rock, in the wooded hills toward Lake Maumelle, along the farm roads around Lonoke and Cabot, on the newer lots between Benton and Bryant and out in the countryside around Conway, every sink and toilet drains into a buried tank and then into the ground. When that setup quits, nothing else about the house feels very important. This site explains what septic work actually involves in this part of the state and gets you on the phone with a licensed septic contractor who covers your town.

Start with what is going on

Four counties, several kinds of ground

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas puts Little Rock and North Little Rock right on the seam between the Ouachita Mountains and the Gulf Coastal Plain, and that seam matters for anything buried in a yard. On the Ouachita side, ridges tend to have thin soil over sandstone and shale, while the valleys between them hold deeper ground. On the Coastal Plain side the surface is loose sand, gravel, silt and clay left by an ancient sea floor. Out east, the Prairie Terrace runs south past Lonoke, and Conway sits partly in the Arkansas River Valley. The state's septic rules turn on exactly these details: depth to rock, how much clay is in the soil, and how high groundwater climbs in a wet season. The soil guide explains how that plays out on a lot.

Who is allowed to do septic work in Arkansas

Septic work here is regulated statewide by the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH), not by city hall or the county judge. The department licenses septic tank cleaners (the pump trucks), registers installers, registers Designated Representatives who evaluate soil and design systems, and licenses maintenance providers and monitoring personnel who look after aerobic units. A pump truck working in Arkansas has to carry the business name, its license number and the tank capacity painted on both sides, and the receipt you get is supposed to list that license number. Asking for it before the hose comes off the truck is a fair question.

How a call through this site works

1. Call the number on this page or send the short form.
2. Tell us your town and what is happening: a routine pump-out, a backup, an alarm, a house sale, a new build.
3. Your request goes to an independent, licensed septic contractor who works that area. They quote and schedule the job with you directly.

We do not pump tanks or dig lines, and we do not set anybody's prices. Ask the contractor what the visit will cost before any work begins.

Towns covered

Pulaski County: Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Jacksonville, Maumelle and the unincorporated county. Saline County: Benton, Bryant and the rural roads around them. Faulkner County: Conway, Mayflower, Greenbrier and Vilonia. Lonoke County: Cabot, Ward, Austin, Lonoke and England.

Questions people ask

Is there a required pumping schedule for a house near Little Rock?

The ADH onsite rules do not put a regular household tank on a set pumping calendar. They do require owners of aerobic and other alternative systems to keep a monitoring contract, with an assessment at least every six months. For an ordinary tank, EPA's general guidance is a pump-out about every three to five years, adjusted for household size and tank size.

A sewer main runs down my road. Do I have to stop using my septic tank?

Under rule 4.1 of the ADH onsite rules, a property must connect to a sanitary sewer when one is within 300 feet of where the sewer leaves the building and the connection can be made without crossing someone else's property. The rules also have the department refuse septic permits where public sewer is reasonably available.

How soon can someone come out?

That depends on the contractor and the week, and we do not promise arrival times. If sewage is coming into the house, say so at the start of the call so it is handled as urgent.