Sewage treatment

[TimT]

I installed a zero pollution septic system at my Vermont house a few years ago... basically a mini-municipal sewage treatment plant..

Allegedly the outfall is potable...The guy that gave me a lesson on maintaining the system said you can drink the outflow

[peppy]

That is cool....but what does it taste like?

[URY914]

Bud Lite

[A930Rocket]

or is Butt Lite...

Originally Posted by URY914

Bud Lite

[Jim Richards]

From the title, I was expecting a discussion about PARF.

[peppy]

What kind of chemicals does it use?

How does it work?

[cgarr]

Ohhh would I like to give that system a run for its money!

[flatbutt]

might not make for good lemonade but you could water the lawn, wash the daily beater etc.

[pete3799]

Holly crap (pun intended) that must have cost a bundle.
I assume (no pun intended) it's because your so close to lake Bomoseen?

[TimT]

Holly crap (pun intended) that must have cost a bundle.
I assume (no pun intended) it's because your so close to lake Bomoseen?

It was not cheap, the water in the background is Beebe Pond just north of Bomoseen.

No chemicals.. I think there was a starter culture that was introduced.

[peppy]

Residential How It Works

Link has an animation that shows how it works.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Neat system - but what happens when you lose power?

[tabs]

What a load of crap....drop some yeast into a Septic tank and it will do the same thang...

[TimT]

When you lose power its just a septic tank. When power is restored it pumps the fluids to balance the system..

[Les Paul]

I worked at an industrial waste water treatmant plant for over 20 years. Actually wrote the training manuals.

Do not, I repeat do not drink the water.

You are not an astronaut on the space station.

[john70t]

Dad has a Cletis Multrum(composting toilet) in the garage for the office space above.
It was a cheaper alternative to permits, plumbing, and digging.
Measures about 4x8 with a couple ports on the side, and a quiet fan vents to the outside.

Basically it requires putting in leaves and turning the material a couple times a year.
2-4 times a year you attach a hose to a bucket, plug in the pump, and get clean swamp water out of the bottom. Toss this on the plants with the rain.

With 4-10 people above, it eventually had to get pumped out with a septic truck for a couple hundred after about five years.

[Gordo2]

Originally Posted by Les Paul

I worked at an industrial waste water treatment plant for over 20 years. Actually wrote the training manuals.

Do not, I repeat do not drink the water.

You are not an astronaut on the space station.

I found it funny that he mentioned that installer said "you" as opposed to "I" could drink outflow.

Sheesh - could have said "you" could drink it right from the source (texture dependent).

[Sunroof]

.............ditto on not drinking it!

I worked for a summer at a WWTP in Florida as a microbiologist that used experimental ozone generators and ultrasonics. Before discharging the effluent they held it in a small concrete above ground pool (all painted pacific blue of course to make it look delicious). They called the press in to check out this new treatment technology and up comes a news van with a very attractive news woman known well as a local anchor person. I ran fecal coliform analysis from a grab sample from the pool and it was off the charts that morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran around like a mad man suggesting batch treating the pool content with chlorine. "Naw" said the plant manager, "we are not going to make her drink it". Well, there I stood with the cameras rolling when this lady takes a beaker and dips it in the pool to take a drink! I thought she sealed her fate at that point, but she took a taste in front of the camera, finished her interview and off she went. I guess she lived through it as I saw her on the news that night and following nights. No telling though how sick she really got over that.

The message here? DO NOT DRINK THAT STUFF without knowing the coliform count....period.

[vash]

i almost went this direction in college. i find it amazing. that waste water treatment plant in el paso..i used to visit it. wierd, i know. they would pull dead bodies out of the trap at the inflow, and have clean drinkable water at the outlet..amazing.

neat system!

[Bill Douglas]

The water may appear to be OK, and test out fine for biological infestations, but has lots of nitrates.