Expect roughly $350 for a tank up to 1,000 gallons, every three to five years. The county will pay you $100 of it.
What it costs
A contractor serving Howard County lists $350 as a minimum for a tank up to 1,000 gallons. Bigger tanks cost more. The price also depends on how hard your tank is to reach. Nobody quotes that part over the phone.
(Published rate, read 21 September 2026.)
The $100 the county gives back
If you live in Howard County, you can claim $100 for pumping your tank through Septic Savers. You can claim once every three years.
That is close to a third of a typical pumping bill. You have to claim it; it is not automatic. Ask your contractor for an itemised receipt at the time. Keeping it is easier than getting one made up later.
Who is allowed to pump here
Anyone hauling septage in Howard County needs a Sewage Scavenger Permit. It costs $155 per truck, per site. The Health Department issues it, not the permits office.
Ask your hauler about the permit directly. Hatfields advertises itself as a "Howard County Permitted Septic Hauler" because you can check that credential. Many operators cannot show it.
Maryland has required a separate registration since 31 December 2022. Anyone doing any work associated with on-site wastewater disposal must be registered with the Maryland State Board of Onsite Wastewater Professionals. That includes pumping. Your hauler needs both credentials.
How often
Three to five years is usual for a household tank. How often yours needs pumping depends more on your household size and tank volume than the calendar. Your tank might have been sized for the bedrooms your house had in 1985. If your family has since finished the basement, it needs pumping sooner than your neighbour's.
What Howard County counts as a bedroom matters here too. Any conditioned room of 90 square feet or more with a window and a door counts. That bedroom count determines how big your system needs to be in the first place.
We recorded a source for every figure. We also recorded the date we read it.