Will AI replace Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
9/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 20% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 15% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(3)
- 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.
- Update sewer maps and manhole charts.
Out of reach(19)
- Drive trucks to transport crews, materials, and equipment.
- Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or related structures such as manholes, culverts, and catch basins.
- Service, adjust, and make minor repairs to equipment, machines, and attachments.
- Operate sewer cleaning equipment, including power rodders, high-velocity water jets, sewer flushers, bucket machines, wayne balls, and vac-alls.
- Inspect manholes to locate sewer line stoppages.
and 14 more
Also called
Drain Technician · Public Works Technician · Septic Pump Truck Driver · Electric Sewer Cleaning Machine Operator · Pipe Cleaning Machine Operator · Priming Machine Operator · Roto Rooter Operator · Septic Tank Cleaner
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics