Sourced from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, TDEC, USDA Rural Development, and the administering agencies’ own published program pages — last checked 26 August 2026.
Quick answer: Tennessee’s strongest septic assistance route is the state’s Emergency Repair Program — a grant of up to $24,999 that does not have to be repaid, and which names a failed septic system explicitly among eligible repairs. It is limited to homeowners aged 60 or over or with a disability, and six counties, including Shelby, Davidson and Knox, have no administering agency at all. USDA Section 504 is the fallback, and in much of the state it is the only route. Knox County runs two septic repair programs of its own.
Check Your Situation
Which Septic Assistance Routes Are Worth Your Time?
Tennessee has something most states do not: a state grant of up to $24,999 that names failed septic systems specifically, is not repaid, and puts no lien on your house. It is narrow, and there is one condition that catches exactly the people who search hardest. Four questions and you will know where you stand.
This is not an application, and it is not a decision. We are not affiliated with the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, TDEC, USDA or any county health department, and we cannot approve anything on behalf of any program — only the program itself can do that. Figures are those bodies’ own published terms. Confirm everything with the administering agency before you rely on it.
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The Emergency Repair Program: Tennessee’s only statewide route that names septic
The Tennessee Housing Development Agency runs the Emergency Repair Program for homeowners who are 60 or over, or who have a disability. It is the strongest septic assistance route in Tennessee, and most people who need it have never heard of it.
THDA’s own list of eligible repairs names septic explicitly:
“Plumbing and/or Sanitation/Septic Systems: Where the plumbing and/or sanitation/septic system has failed or there are demonstrated deficiencies in such system(s) that pose an immediate danger to life, safety or health.”
| What you get | Up to $24,999, lifetime maximum per homeowner |
| Type of help | A grant that does not have to be repaid. THDA states: “No liens are placed against the property, and there is no minimum compliance period.” |
| Age or status | At least 60 years old or have a disability |
| Time in the home | Must have owned and lived in the home for at least three years before applying |
| Property taxes | Must be current — or in a payment plan with the Tax Assessor’s Office |
| Income | At or below 60% of Area Median Income for your county, using HUD’s HOME Program limits |
| Statewide funding | $2.7 million a year, across every kind of emergency repair — not just septic |
Three things that catch people out.
1. THDA does not take applications. Its own page says so plainly: “THDA does NOT accept applications from homeowners for this program.” You apply through the local agency that covers your county. The table below is that list.
2. The three-year rule excludes new buyers. If you have just bought a house and discovered a failing system, you do not qualify — and that is exactly the person who searches hardest for help.
3. The money is thin. $2.7 million a year against a $24,999 ceiling is roughly a hundred homes statewide at the maximum, spread across roofs, wiring, heating and everything else. Apply early in the program year rather than late.
Which agency covers your county
THDA publishes this as a PDF with no map and no plain-language summary. It is reproduced here in full, with what each agency currently says about whether it is taking applications. Agency coverage last published by THDA 15 June 2026; application status checked 26 August 2026.
| Agency | Counties served | Who to call | Taking applications? |
| Southwest Human Resource Agency | Hardeman, McNairy, Hardin, Chester, Decatur, Henderson, Madison, Haywood, Crockett, Gibson, Carroll, Benton, Henry, Weakley, Obion, Lake, Dyer (17) | Farris Stout 731-989-5111 ext. 1124 |
No. Its own page reads “Application waitlist is currently closed.” |
| South Central Tennessee Development District | Perry, Hickman, Maury, Marshall, Bedford, Coffee, Moore, Franklin, Lincoln, Giles, Lewis, Lawrence, Wayne, Stewart, Houston, Humphreys, Dickson, Montgomery (not Clarksville), Robertson, Cheatham, Williamson, Rutherford (not Murfreesboro), Trousdale, Wilson, Sumner (25) | Tia Lockridge 931-379-2957 |
No. Its own page reads “This program is not currently taking applications.” |
| Upper Cumberland Development District | Macon, Clay, Pickett, Smith, Jackson, Overton, Fentress, Putnam, DeKalb, White, Cumberland, Cannon, Warren, Van Buren (14) | Vickie Durham 931-476-4123 |
Not published — call and ask |
| Southeast Tennessee Human Resource Agency | Grundy, Sequatchie, Bledsoe, Rhea, Meigs, McMinn, Polk, Bradley, Hamilton (not Chattanooga), Marion (10) | Myke Kelly 423-949-2191 ext. 321 |
Not published — call and ask |
| East Tennessee Development District | Scott, Campbell, Claiborne, Morgan, Anderson, Union, Grainger, Hamblen, Roane, Loudon, Jefferson, Cocke, Sevier, Blount, Monroe (15) | Shane Carney 865-273-6003 ext. 110 |
Not published — call and ask |
| First Tennessee Development District | Unicoi, Sullivan, Carter, Washington, Hancock, Hawkins, Johnson, Greene (8) | Rene Mann 423-268-2677 |
Not published — call and ask |
Six Tennessee counties have no agency at all. THDA’s June 2026 list states it directly: “No current coverage for the following counties- Shelby, Davidson, Knox, Lauderdale, Tipton and Fayette counties.”
Three more cities are carved out of counties that are otherwise covered: Clarksville, Murfreesboro and Chattanooga.
So if you live in Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, Clarksville, Murfreesboro or Chattanooga, the Emergency Repair Program is not open to you right now — not because you failed a test, but because no agency currently administers it where you live. Use USDA Section 504 below, and if you are in Knox County, read the county section further down: it has two programs of its own that the rest of the state does not.
Adding it up: the six agencies cover 89 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Two of them, covering 42 counties between them, are currently closed to new applications. Six counties have no agency. That leaves 47 counties where the program may be live and where the only way to find out is to call the number above.
Two footnotes worth having. THDA’s website elsewhere still refers to “nine administering agencies”; its own June 2026 contact list has six, and that is the more current document. And Southwest Human Resource Agency publishes a $15,000 maximum on its own page rather than THDA’s $24,999 — if you are in one of its seventeen counties, ask which figure applies before you plan around it.
USDA Rural Development Section 504: Tennessee’s Main Assistance Path
USDA Rural Development’s Section 504 Home Repair program provides loans and grants to very-low-income homeowners in eligible rural areas to repair, improve, or modernize their homes — including septic system repairs and replacements. Tennessee’s significant rural population means a large portion of the state qualifies geographically.
What you can actually get
| Loan | Up to $40,000 at 1% fixed over a 20-year term |
| Grant, age 62 or older | Up to $10,000 lifetime — not repayable |
| Grant in a declared disaster area | Up to $15,000 |
| Loan and grant combined | Up to $50,000, or $55,000 in a presidentially declared disaster area |
These are the federal program maximums published by USDA Rural Development, so they apply in Tennessee exactly as they do anywhere else. The grant does not have to be repaid. The loan is repayable over twenty years at one percent, which on the full $40,000 works out to roughly $184 a month.
Worth knowing: a typical Tennessee septic replacement costs less than the $40,000 loan ceiling, so for most households the constraint is eligibility rather than the size of the award.
Key eligibility requirements:
- Must be the homeowner and primary resident (not a rental or second home)
- Household income must fall under the USDA very low income limit for your county. That threshold is set county by county rather than statewide, so check your address on the USDA eligibility site before assuming you are over it
- Property must be in an eligible rural area (most of Tennessee outside major metro cores qualifies)
- Must be unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere
County and watershed programs in Tennessee
Tennessee has no statewide septic grant outside the Emergency Repair Program. What it has instead is a small number of local programs, most funded by Clean Water Act Section 319 grants that the Tennessee Department of Agriculture — not TDEC — passes through to counties and conservation councils. Those grants target watersheds, not people, so eligibility usually depends on your address rather than your income, and the programs appear and disappear as grant cycles end.
Here is every one we can currently document, with its status. Checked 26 August 2026.
Open
| Where | Program | What it covers | Contact |
| Knox County North Fork Turkey Creek area |
Knox County Stormwater cost-share, with the Town of Farragut and the City of Knoxville. Funded by a $205,000 Tennessee Department of Agriculture grant awarded 1 July 2024. | “Septic system repairs” at up to 75% cost-share. Requires a Health Department inspection and three bids from approved contractors. You pay the contractor and are reimbursed, typically in two to three weeks — so you need the money up front. | Knox County Stormwater 865-215-5800 |
| Knox County countywide |
Knox County Health Department with CAC Housing and Energy Services | Septic repair for owners who cannot afford it. Small: roughly 15 to 20 households a year. Caps and income limits are not published; CAC checks eligibility and the Health Department decides. | Knox County Health Department 865-215-5000 |
Knox County is the one place where the local route is stronger than the state route. Knox has no Emergency Repair Program agency at all — and it is also the only county in Tennessee with two working septic repair programs of its own. If you are in Knoxville, start with the two numbers above rather than with THDA.
Closing
Conasauga River watershed — Polk County and nearby. The Southeast Tennessee RC&D Council runs a Section 319 cost-share that names “Septic system repairs” among eligible work, for “residents and landowners within the Conasauga River watershed.” Pump-outs qualify only where needed to complete an approved repair, aerobic treatment units are case by case, and new construction is excluded. No dollar cap is published.
The council states the funding is available “on a first-come, first-served basis through August 2026” — which is now. Treat this as closing or already closed, and confirm before counting on it. No phone number is published; the contact is an email address on the council’s own site.
Closed or finished — listed so you do not spend an afternoon on them
- Knox County, Beaver Creek watershed — a $115,100 Tennessee Department of Agriculture grant that helped pay to fix failed septic systems. Ran to July 2024. Complete.
- Knox County, Flat Creek watershed — February 2021 to July 2024. Complete.
- Knox County, Stock Creek watershed — $115,000, March 2019 to July 2022. Complete.
- Knox County, Roseberry Creek watershed — $144,000 from the 319 program, March 2017 to March 2019. Complete.
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga, Critical Home Repair — the pre-qualifying questionnaire is closed, and septic was not eligible in any case.
- Knoxville Habitat for Humanity — the application window for Critical Home Repairs is closed, and the program covers roofs and HVAC only.
These are listed rather than deleted because watershed grants do sometimes come back to the same creek. If you are on one of them, it is worth asking your county whether a new round has been funded.
Two programs that are not Tennessee, however they look in search results
The Chattanooga Creek septic program is in Georgia. Limestone Valley RC&D reimburses 60% of repair costs for homes in parts of Rossville, Flintstone, High Point and Lookout Mountain — all in Walker County, Georgia. Chattanooga news outlets cover it, so it reads as local. No Tennessee resident is eligible, including in Hamilton County. If you live just over the state line, it is worth a call.
The “Knox County” septic grant with a 740 area code is in Ohio. Knox Public Health in Mount Vernon, Ohio runs a program funded by Ohio’s Water Pollution Control Loan Fund. It ranks well on Tennessee searches because of the county name. It has nothing to do with Knox County, Tennessee.
If you are in Hamilton County
The Hamilton County Wastewater Treatment Authority answers this directly on its own FAQ: “The WWTA currently does not have an assistance program; however, we can refer you to agencies who may be able to assist you.” Connection to public sewer, where available, is compulsory under T.C.A. 7-35-201 and at the owner’s expense. Customer service is 423-209-7808.
That combination — mandatory connection, no assistance — is worth knowing before a notice arrives. Chattanooga is also carved out of the Emergency Repair Program, so for city residents the realistic route is USDA Section 504.
We checked and found no septic repair grant, sewer-connection credit or low-interest loan at the county health departments or utilities in Williamson, Sevier, Blount, Rutherford, Wilson, Montgomery, Sumner, Bradley, Putnam, Greene or Cumberland, and no utility anywhere in Tennessee offering a credit toward abandoning a septic tank.
Tennessee’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund: not a homeowner program
TDEC’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund shows up constantly in Tennessee water-quality news, in large numbers. It does fund decentralized and septic projects. But an individual homeowner cannot apply to it.
TDEC states who can borrow: the fund “provides low-interest, infrastructure loans to cities, counties, utility districts, and stormwater authorities.” The Tennessee Local Development Authority, which approves the loans, extends that only to privately owned for-profit community water and wastewater systems. There is no provision for individuals anywhere in the program.
The distinction that matters: a septic project can be funded by this money, but the borrower has to be a city, county or utility district. If your county or utility runs a program paid for out of the revolving fund, you apply to them — not to TDEC. Reading a TDEC press release and calling the state will not get you anywhere.
The same is true of the USDA Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant program, which goes to public bodies and non-profits, and of the large TDEC water infrastructure grants announced in 2022 and 2023. Those are why some septic areas are being offered sewer at all. They are not money you can apply for.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is there financial assistance for septic repairs in Tennessee?
Yes — the primary path for most Tennessee homeowners is USDA Rural Development's Section 504 Home Repair program, which covers septic repairs for qualifying low-income homeowners in eligible rural areas. Many Tennessee counties also have their own assistance funds — contact your county environmental health office to check current availability.
Does Tennessee have a septic repair assistance program?
Tennessee homeowners can access USDA Rural Development's Section 504 program for septic repairs. Some county health departments also maintain local assistance funds. TDEC's Clean Water State Revolving Fund provides low-interest loans for water quality projects including septic repairs in some circumstances.
Who qualifies for USDA Section 504 septic repair assistance in Tennessee?
Qualifying Tennessee homeowners must: be the owner and primary resident, have household income below 50% of area median income (for grants) or 80% (for loans), live in an eligible rural area (most of Tennessee outside major metro cores qualifies), and be unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere.
Does assistance cover routine septic pumping in Tennessee?
No — most assistance programs target failing systems that need repair or replacement, not routine maintenance like pumping. If you need help affording routine pumping, contact your county environmental health office for any local programs that may exist.