Tailgate88 said:
If nothing is wrong it only takes 10 minutes to make sure your tanks aren't full and the sprinklers are working. So congrats on having no problems with your system.
Go out and talk to David next time. He is a good dude and has taken care of us for 20 years.
Although I don't do my own inspections & testing, I have completed the A&M AgriLife training, and am certified to do so (for my own system only). There is much more to a proper inspection than tank levels and sprinklers.
One thing that stands out to me is there should be a grab sample taken from the aeration tank, and that sample is supposed to be allowed to settle for 30 minutes, at which point the suspended solids level can be determined. There were multiple other tests such as pH, dissolved oxygen, chlorine level, etc. Plus the physical checks of things like sludge levels, air pump, diffuser...it's a pretty long list, going "by the book."
Maybe when you've been doing these inspections professionally for a while, you can "just tell" within a few minutes if the grab sample looks like it's going to be a problem. IIRC, there is also a fairly wide range of what's considered acceptable - only if it's really low or really high is it something that needs to be addressed.
Anyway, all that to say I don't see how everything we were trained on can be done properly in 10 minutes, but I do think a professional could absolutely tell within 10 minutes if your system has a serious problem or not.
Oh and after the training I quickly decided these inspections were the kind of "dirty job" I'd gladly pay someone else $300-400/yr to do