Subject: Alternative wastewater treatment - UK group sets pace

From: Larry London <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 14:44:00 -0400 (EDT)

http://metalab.unc.edu/london   InterGarden   
[email-masked]   [email-masked]

This is from the new permaculture newsgroup, alt.permaculture
and should interest some of you gathering technical know-how
about home-built natural wastewater treatment systems. If anyone
has more to add to this thread I would be interested in reading it
here. I am collecting feedback and putting it in the following locations:

http://metalab.unc.edu/london/orgfarm/aquaculture
http://metalab.unc.edu/london/orgfarm/bioremediation
http://metalab.unc.edu/london/orgfarm/hyperaccumulation
and some of it here:
http://metalab.unc.edu/london/orgfarm/permaculture
<><><><><><><><>

>From [email-masked] Thu Jun 17 15:56:36 1999
From: "mud" <[email-masked]>
Newsgroups: alt.permaculture
Subject: Re: Waste Water Treatment
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 20:56:36 +0100
Organization: Natural Technology Systems
Lines: 68

Alan Sloan wrote in message <[email-masked]>...

>There are a few consultancies springing up...i was talking to a chap
>associated with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust who designs these
infernal
>mechanisms.

What's infernal about them Alan ? Not the ideal solution, I admit - we
should all be composting our wastes and getting away from the 'flush and
forget' mindset to 'close the circle'. But, if we're stuck with flushing
toilets, reed beds are about the most effective method, since they largely
depend on free processes such as gravity and natural mechanisms. The
alternative requires large amounts of energy and chemicals. It's a fact
that
septic tanks on their own are responsible for a lot of pollution in
freshwater aquifers ( a lot of borehole wells around here are contaminated
with faecal coliforms).

>Apparently they are largely based on Phragmite, which is a kind
>of reed (Surprise!)

They also use a whole range of other wetland plants. Reeds on their own do
a
lot, but rather than relying on a monoculture, a wider range of plants,
each
with it's own little niche, is more balanced. (eg, Yellow Flag Iris and
Water Mint are naturally antiseptic)

>He showed me a plastic matrix which looked a bit like one of those
moulded
>milk bottle crates (you know the ones?) which was designed to increase
root
>area in contact with the water.  It's called the "Bioblock", but I can
>imagine that carefully chosen and sized rocks would do the job just as
well.

Crushed limestone is the best matrix. It's cheap, it's everywhere, and
gives
a large surface area but with predictable hydraulic properties.

>Forgive me Mark if I'm totally out of range on this, but I seem  to
remember
>that 10 square metres of reed bed per person would need to be allowed as
a
>rule of thumb.  Is this near the mark, and what happens in the winter as
>temperatures and biological activity drop?

We're managing to design full treatment using around 3 to 5 sq.m. per
person
using  a hybrid system involving different types of beds and mix of
plants.
This gives good removal of nitrate and we can also remove phosphate to a
high standard. ( BOD, SS, Pathogens etc are all well below acceptable
limits )
In winter, it is precisely because biological activity drops that the reed
bed maintains high effluent quality. eg. In rivers and lakes, algal blooms
and fish kills only occur during summer, even though there's more nutrient
washed into them during the wetter months - why ?. BOD is
temperature-dependent.

HTH

Mark Lomas        :  [email-masked]
Web  :  http://surf.to/NaturalTechnology

Natural Technology Systems, Co.Clare, Eire.
Reed Bed Wastewater Treatment. Eco-Construction

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From: John Schinnerer <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 11:26:13 -0700

Aloha Larry,

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Larry London [SMTP:[email-masked]]
>Not in those ftp directories. The file collection will remain there
>edited (cleaned up or as is). 

OK, just wondering...I wasn't expecting a raw index, and it's really hard to
tell what anything is for or about.

>When I have time I will copy much of
>the info in those directories and incorporate it into new web (html)
>pages that will be linked in to my main page and offshoots, i.e.
>permaculture. 

Got it...that will make it more accessible to the average surfer, I think.

>There is an awful lot I would like to do but time is the
>limiting factor. 

I can relate...

>Some of my
>new work may end up being done in a collaborative permaculture page
>that Steve Diver are working on. In fact most of my new work to
>become a permanent collection will probably be there,
>http://metalab.unc.edu/permaculture. Would you like to be part of this
>effort?

Well, time is a limiting factor... ;-)  Finishing grad school takes
precedence right now, but depending on where this project is at when I've
lightened that load, it's a possibility.  I've been pondering how to
re-design my site for maximum accessibility and my best answers so far
involve a whole lot of back-end DB stuff that I don't have access to or
support for plus design and coding work that I don't have time for...!

Best wishes,
John Schinnerer

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