Below is an slightly expanded excerpt from our recent Community Blog, describing the State-of-the-Art wastewater system that we would like to build for our Ecovillage:
We don’t want to use septic systems; we want to do better than that. Modern plumbing is really cool and I won’t live without it. You sit in comfortable and private surroundings, finish your business, flush, and the “problem” goes away…right? In truth, a septic system simply re-locates the “problem” to an underground tank where the solids settle but the liquids drain into the earth via a “leach field”. In principle, pollutants and germs are removed by biological activity in the few feet before the waste water reaches the shallow ground water, but in practice septic sytems have contributed to highly polluted groundwaters throughout the country. Public sewer mixes the “problem” with a lot of water, pumps it across town, treats it biologically and chemically, and then typically dumps it into the nearest stream or river. The direct economic costs of municipal sewage treatment are considerable, but the indirect economic costs of polluted streams and rivers is probably higher.
We want to be responsible for our own “problems”. Just as the septic system was a vast improvement over the outhouse, constructed wetlands are a vast improvement over the septic system. These professionally designed systems drain the liquid waste from a settling tank through a series of lined, gravel-bed rooting zones of wetland plants, where naturally occurring “good” microbes and plant roots break-down wastes and take up the excess nutrients. The wastewater is always 1-2 feet below ground and can not leak. There is no smell.
The result is that water is purified to levels that are cleaner than local streams and groundwater (it’s nearly drinkable) before it is released, usually via subsurface irrigation to landscaping. No septic system, and few municipal sewage treatment plants, will match that; we are setting our standards very high. We are aware that most people are not familiar with this technology, but the State of Pennsylvania is advocating it, as are many other states. In fact, PA has given a grant to the Stroud Water Research Center to build the first one in our area.
We understand that we will need to gain local approval by the Township and the County before getting a State permit, but we’re willing to go to bat for the area’s groundwater.
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