Septic & Well Services in Quakertown, PA

Areas covered on this page: Quakertown Borough, Richland Township, Milford Township, Springfield Township, Haycock Township, Trumbauersville Borough (Bucks County).

Three-year pumping rules around Quakertown

Milford Township adopted its On-lot Sewage System Management Ordinance (No. 108) in 1998. It requires tanks to be pumped at least every three years, with a receipt sent to the Township within 30 days. The Township's Act 537 plan counts about 1,553 properties, roughly a third of the township, on on-lot systems. Public sewer is focused on the Development District through the Milford-Trumbauersville Area Sewer Authority (Milford Township Sewage Facilities Plan).

Springfield Township also requires pumping at least once every three years. Your contractor fills in a one-page form, and you return it to the Township. The Township mails a postcard reminder about six months before your window closes and can issue a notice of violation if you don't respond (Springfield Township pumping notice). In Haycock and the other townships nearby, ask the township office whether a pumping schedule applies. In Richland, properties that public sewer can reach generally must connect (Richland Code: Mandatory Connection), so ask the Township which applies to your lot.

Whatever your township requires, EPA's general guidance is to have the system inspected at least every three years and pumped typically every three to five years (EPA).

Well water around Quakertown

Quakertown sits in the Newark Basin, the shale and sandstone bedrock that underlies much of Upper Bucks. USGS sampled private wells in a Quakertown study area as part of a study of naturally occurring arsenic, boron and fluoride. Across the basin, about 10 percent of wells in the available data had arsenic above EPA's drinking-water limit (USGS SIR 2006-5261). A routine bacteria test won't catch arsenic, so ask your lab about adding it, especially if you've never had a full panel done.

PA DEP recommends testing private wells every year for total coliform bacteria, nitrate, total dissolved solids and pH (PA DEP). The Bucks County Health Department sells coliform sampling kits (Bucks County), and its office is at 261 California Road in Quakertown.

Who issues permits

In Bucks County, the Bucks County Health Department is the sewage enforcement agency. It permits new and repaired septic systems, holding tanks and alternate systems under PA Code Title 25, Chapter 73, investigates malfunctioning systems, and licenses every sewage pumping truck that works in the county. Its Sewage Program can be reached at 215-345-3318. Since 2007 the department has also set location and construction standards for new and modified private wells through its Residential Well Inspection Program, so a new well needs a county permit before drilling.

Before you call a provider

• Find your last pumping receipt and, if you have it, your septic permit or system drawing. It shows the tank location and size.
• Ask whether the pumper's truck is licensed by the Bucks County Health Department and whether they will file or give you the receipt your township needs.
• For a home sale, ask whether the inspector is PSMA-certified and what the written report covers.
• For a well, note the pump age, the well depth if known, and what you are seeing (pressure, color, odor, no water).