Sewage Disposal

[denick]

Cities and large towns here have sanitary sewers for waste. Everyone else has a "septic system" These systems and there engineering have gotten very costly. They all need to be designed by a licensed engineer. They are sized as to how many bedrooms there are for a single family home. They have a 1,000 gallon tank minimum. Most tanks are cast concrete. A few are now fiberglass. Tanks disperse the liquids to "fields" mainly a trench with crushed stone and pipe. There is some type of structure, again mostly concrete placed in these fields. The ability of the soil to drain determines the system. Many systems now are built on large beds of sand that are hauled in. These systems are now $30,000. to $60,000. dollars.

Just curious as to how it's done other places.

[d4c24a]

thats just about the same as here ,but it is very rare to see a concrete tank these days
i have some pictures somewhere of a big tank i put in i will try to dig them out
cheers graham

[IANOZ]

hi nick, hERE IN AUSTRALIA the old way was a concrete tank about the same size,toilet went in, grey water went round the tank and joined in going to a soakage trench 2 foot wide ,2 foot deep and about50 foot long.My house on 14 acres has this system except the grey water goes into asmall tank and can be pumped on to gardens etc. these days that is not seen to be enviormently friendly.so there are two diferent ways. the first is a larger concrete or plastic septic tank that all waste water goes into then it goes out into a soakage trench 20foot wide with 3 slotted pipes ,one about 3 feet in from e ither side and one in the centre . the trench is about 50 feet long,and depth depends on fall from the tank ..IT has 4inches of sand on the bottom . then 8 inches of crushed rock ,then the 3 pipes then another 8 inches of rock then 8 inches of sand then cover the rest to ground level with topsoil, thenbuild a bundwall round it so rainrunoff water cant get into it. THE second way is a mini sewerage system plant that are about 1500 gallons that treat the water then pump the water to garden areas that have been ripped to 2foot deep , poly pipes with sprinklers or drippers water plants and ground is covered with hay mulch. Cost of this is roughly $8000 aus for the system plus an ongoing maintance fee every 2months i think, plus electrical costs for instellation and running costs then machine hire for a day to install [thats where i come in] then plumbers time and matirials and of coarse the engineers f ees for designing it and the plants the engineer put in the plan. hope this gives you what you were after .ian.

[denick]

Thanks ian,

Is there any type of filter fabric between the top layers of the system. Surprises me about the water from the system being used any where for anything.
I have only read about the mini sewage systems being used in the US in coastal areas where it is mostly rock.

Nick

[bob]

in Uk we have to fit a treatment system unless you are in sandy soil then you can fit a septic tank (a chamber with two compartments one for waste which overflows into second compartment then into land drains )
a treatment system is made of plastic with three compartments one with a compressor blowing air through the sewage simple to fit and water discharge into watercourse last one I fitted last year cost £3000 I dug out and dropped it into hole with a TB125 3ton digger
here a website with some systems
http://www.biodigester.co.uk/biodigeste ... -range.asp
Bob

[IANOZ]

HI nick, The trenchs i have done lately have not had filter fabric ,the old 2 foot wide ones did but only to keep the soil out of the gravel New ones ,engineers must have decided that sand and soil cant settle down into the gravel so who knows , they have got a degree to say they are smartter then us. Do a search for ozzikleen I just looked and there is a couple of sites to get more info. YOU never Know ,you might be able to import them and make a fortune . if you dont wreck the economy buy not buying made in the usa product Do the exchange rate thing and it would be real cheap over there. I must have forgot what the cost was on your systems when i did my post but what we think is expensive here is a bargan price to you. Just dont forget to send me a share of the profits. ian.