If you are a professional maintenance provider
and have completed the sixteen hour Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) certification
requirements, please contact a Clearstream wholesale
distributor for certification information.
If you are a Texas homeowner interested in the
homeowner training course, carefully read the
following before continuing to the application
process.
An Overview For Texas Homeowners Requesting To Do
Their Own Maintenance
The Texas Legislature, in HB 2510 has mandated
allowance for homeowners to be trained to do
maintenance on their own system. The legislation
reads as follows:
(h) If the owner of an on-site sewage disposal
system using aerobic treatment for a single-family
residence elects to maintain the system directly,
the owner must obtain from the manufacturer or
installer of the system an amount of on-site
training specified by commission rule not to exceed
six hours, either at the time of acceptance of the
system from the installer or at the time of an
on-site maintenance visit by a maintenance company
under the initial term of the maintenance contract
for the system, if applicable. The training must
include instruction regarding the importance to
public health and safety of proper maintenance of
the system and a demonstration of the procedure for
performing a scheduled maintenance. On the owner’s
completion of the training, the manufacturer or
installer shall provided the owner with a
certification or letter stating that the owner has
received the required training. An owner who elects
to maintain the owner’s system is subject to any
inspection and reporting requirements imposed by an
authorized agent or the commission under Subsection
(k) applicable to a maintenance company that
contracts to maintain a system. If the residence is
sold, the new owner, not later than the 30th day
after the date the owner takes passion of the
property, must obtain the training required by this
subsection from an installer certified by the
manufacturer of the system under Subsection (n) or
contract with a maintenance company for the
maintenance of the system.
If you qualify with the above conditions, we suggest
you contact your installer or maintenance company
for training. They should be familiar with your
system since they either completed your system
installation or do the maintenance and are able to
most effectively train you on your system. They must
train you on your system. They must train you for
the 6 hours as required by State law. After you have
been trained by them, they will be able to assist
you directly with concerns you have about your
system, not Clearstream at their central office.
The manufacturer of the system does not visit the
system during the installation or maintenance visit,
and therefore private training will result in higher
fees. If you desire training directly by Clearstream,
please continue to the application on the next page.
Once you submit your application, we will then
dispatch someone within the allotted 30 days from
application submission. This training will take
place Monday through Friday between the hours of
8:00AM to 5:00 PM and will take 6 hours to complete.
Full payment for the class must be made to our
office before the dispatch of our trainer to your
location.
Before you proceed, please note the following:
Required in the initial price of the system is a
mandatory 2 year warranty and service policy that
should be provided to you at no charge. This is
offered for your protection should any problems with
the installation present themselves. If an installer
offers to sell you a system without providing you
the initial service policy and warranty, he is doing
this contrary to State Law. You must be trained on
the system at the time of acceptance from the
installer, but if you are not provided the service
and warranty coverage, you are not receiving what
you have paid for.
Your warranty is based on the system being both
professionally installed and maintained. Repair
parts are only provided under warranty by
Clearstream to a system that is installed and
currently maintained by a factory authorized
representative, not a trained homeowner. Your
warranty will be null and void if your system is not
being maintained under a service contract with a
trained and qualified installer/service provider.
Installers who provide maintenance have a minimum of
60 hours professional instruction; have gone through
a Registered Apprentice Program, then Installer I,
Installer II and the Basic Maintenance Provider
Course. These programs, when taken back to back,
take a minimum of 3 years of experience to complete.
It is ridiculous to think that a homeowner can be
effectively taught and receive the experience
necessary to mechanically, electrically,
hydraulically and biologically troubleshoot,
maintain, service and repair a system that takes
years of training and experience to master.
When it comes to servicing your system, the person
with years of experience that does the work every
day, will have the advantage over any homeowner. An
experienced maintenance provider can quickly
identify potential problems and is knowledgeable
about performing preventative maintenance instead of
repairs. Not having parts on hand can make a
difference between a simple adjustment or repair,
and one that requires a pump out (at over $300.00
average) or damages other components that can run
into the thousands of dollars to repair.
Service providers are required to stock parts and
specialized tools to work on your systems. They are
trained on an annual basis and receive continuing
education from both State qualified instructors and
Clearstream. If you do not have the right equipment
and parts on hand, you will not be able to
effectively maintain your system.
Clearstream insists that anyone working in a Health
Risk Environment such as with wastewater must be
properly immunized. People working with wastewater
are exposed to Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis
C, Cholera, Typhoid Fever, Dysentery,
Gastroenteritis, Cryptosporidiosis, Amebiasis,
Shigelloisis and Polio. You need to be aware that
some of these water borne diseases have no
immunization available and some have no known cure.
Natural immunity can develop in individuals who are
exposed over long periods of time. Therefore, we
cannot in good faith recommend that homeowners be
trained in maintaining their system, because of the
potential of exposing themselves to these diseases.
Please be aware that with the acceptance of the
maintenance of your system come the obligations of
protecting the environment and waters of the State
of Texas from pollution. You are required to do
quarterly reporting of the condition of the system
and make any and all repairs within 48 hours of a
discovery of their problem. Failure to do so will
result in the forfeit of your ability to service
your own system along with other civil and
administrative penalties.
Clearstream offers training to homeowners through
our Installers, Maintenance Providers and Factory
Representatives at mandate of State Law, under
extreme duress. Our Installers and Maintenance
Providers have been threatened by the TCEQ with
revocation of their license, and therefore their
livelihood, if they fail to train homeowners to
service their systems. Clearstream has been
threatened with the revocation of their product
approvals with the TCEQ for failure to offer
training as well. We believe this exceeds and
overreaches the intent of the legislature; however
we have no choice other than to comply.
Clearstream is not responsible for any disease,
illness, injury, or death that occurs to any
homeowner or other innocent victim because a
homeowner elects to maintain their own system.
Clearstream does not feel that a homeowner can be
effectively taught to maintain their system in any
less time than the State requires of individuals who
perform the service for hire.
