Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
In short: today's best AI models could do about 6% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 94% of the time, stays with people.
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.
30,650 people do this job in the US. $49,880 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on2 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people38 h
Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 2 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 38 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare and keep records of actions taken, including maintenance and repair work (about 1 h); Communicate with supervisors and other workers, using equipment such as wireless phones, pagers, or radio telephones (under an hour); Update sewer maps and manhole charts (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 6%
- 0%
- 94%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 6%. Today's estimate: 6%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 22 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0026% to 0.0038% (released February and March 2025); 0.0017% to none (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0026% | 674 of 708 | 1 of 22 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0038% | 610 of 703 | 1 of 22 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0017% | 647 of 655 | 1 of 22 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 22 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 90% of this job's working time as physical work. For 62% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 48% in a purpose-built cell, 14% in a structured facility. 0.76 of 3, the 238th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 10%
- No robot shown 28%
- In a purpose-built cell 48%
- In a structured facility 14%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 22 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or related structures such as manholes, culverts, and catch basins.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 36% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.3 work days | Stays with people | |
| Operate sewer cleaning equipment, including power rodders, high-velocity water jets, sewer flushers, bucket machines, wayne balls, and vac-alls.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, StoneAge AutoBox 3L with Sentinel Automation Technology (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 13% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Drive trucks to transport crews, materials, and equipment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Aurora Driver (Class 8 trucks) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Dig out sewer lines manually, using shovels.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Robotic Roadworks and Excavation System (RRES) (ULC Technologies / SGN) (demonstrated). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 1.7 h38 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Locate problems, using specially designed equipment, and mark where digging must occur to reach damaged tanks or pipes.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, DEFECTOMAT in-line eddy current test system with FOERSTER Color marking system (Institut Dr. Foerster GmbH und Co. KG) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Start machines to feed revolving cables or rods into openings, stopping machines and changing knives to conform to pipe sizes.Done more than weekly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, StoneAge Sentinel Automation Technology + AutoBox 3L (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Prepare and keep records of actions taken, including maintenance and repair work.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Service, adjust, and make minor repairs to equipment, machines, and attachments.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Withdraw cables from pipes and examine them for evidence of mud, roots, grease, and other deposits indicating broken or clogged sewer lines.Done more than monthly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Canrig Red Zone Robotics (RZR) Rig Floor Module / iRacker (Nabors Industries / Canrig) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Cut damaged sections of pipe with cutters, remove broken sections from ditches, and replace pipe sections, using pipe sleeves.Done more than monthly by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, KRANENDONK Robotic Pipe Shop (Apollo milling / Aurora welding stations) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 3.3 h1.3 h to 6.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Inspect manholes to locate sewer line stoppages.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, SOLO pipeline inspection robot (RedZone Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Measure excavation sites, using plumbers' snakes, tapelines, or lengths of cutting heads within sewers, and mark areas for digging.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, SOLO (RedZone Robotics) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 2% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters23% now, 23% by 2028
- Pipelayers0% now, 0% by 2028
- Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators33% now, 33% by 2028
- Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters0% now, 0% by 2028
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General11% now, 13% by 2028
- Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment1% now, 1% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 6% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 6% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Prepare and keep records of actions taken, including maintenance and repair work (100% of the task's time now); Communicate with supervisors and other workers, using equipment such as wireless phones, pagers, or radio telephones (100% of the task's time now); and Update sewer maps and manhole charts (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Clean and repair septic tanks, sewer lines, or related structures such as manholes, culverts, and catch basins; Operate sewer cleaning equipment, including power rodders, high-velocity water jets, sewer flushers, bucket machines, wayne balls, and vac-alls; and Drive trucks to transport crews, materials, and equipment. Together such tasks are about 94% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 90% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 62% of the working time, 14% in a structured facility. Its index is 0.76 of 3. One example: Aurora Driver (Class 8 trucks) for "drive trucks to transport crews, materials, and equipment". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 22 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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