Tom Palmieri

Long Island septic, three generations deep

My grandfather pumped cesspools on Long Island in the 1950s with a steel tank truck. My father took over the route in 1978 and ran it until I bought him out in 2004. I grew up in the back of those trucks and on the spade end of a shovel.

When I started Long Island Cesspool Co. in 2004, the goal was simple: answer the phone, show up when promised, leave a written invoice. Twenty-plus years later, that hasn't changed. We're nine people now, two pump trucks, a full mini-excavator fleet, and we still do every install ourselves.

Why I'm still on the trucks

I run every replacement quote myself. I want eyes on the lid, the soil, the high water table, the access. A homeowner deserves a real number, not a guess. If I've never seen the property, I've never quoted it.

My brother Joe runs the install crews. Marie runs the office. The seven other guys have been with us an average of six years. We're a family operation that happens to own commercial pump trucks.

SCSIP and the south shore

The Suffolk County Septic Improvement Program is the biggest thing to happen to our industry in my lifetime. Up to $30,000 in grants for I/A nitrogen-reducing septic systems. I've personally walked dozens of homeowners through the application — it's paperwork-heavy, but the money is real.

If you're on the south shore, near a canal, or in a wellhead-protection zone, your old cesspool is on borrowed time. SCDHS is rejecting like-for-like cesspool replacements in those zones. Call me, I'll tell you straight whether you qualify for the grant.