I am working on several community wastewater treatment systems that I thought I would present here. My philosophy regarding these systems is that they have to fit the application, be reliable, be cost effective and do a great job treating wastewater. I do not at all like the fad of stringing together "pods". And I don't really care what you use to fill the pods. I think that type of system looks goofy and ultimately give onsite and decentralized a black eye. I prefer custom and semi-custom systems that are sized for the job. The only reason a manufacturer daisy-chains a bunch of little boxes together is because it is cheaper for them to make one thing and replicate that thing over and over. It's odd, however, that the cost benefit does not pass through to the owner. Here is a sweet little community system I am working on. This will go inside a small building so that it can be accessed any time of the year. Here is a photo of one we did a while ago.
Compare this very professional onsite wastewater treatment system to the "field of pods" concept. This is why our little Montana company has been taking so much work from the big guys.
We can add UV disinfection too.
If you want it completely buried...we can do that.
Check out this link: http://www.nsf.org/business/newsroom/monitor/wwmonitor_enews_0907.pdf
ReplyDeleteNSF states that systems designed and certified for residential applications do not necessarily translate well into non-residential applications. Why, then, do we see so many "commercial" systems that are simply residential pods annexed together? Given the significant variations in different commercial applications (ie, Rest Area vs. Food Processing Plant vs. RV Park, etc) shouldn't the decentralized industry lean more toward a custom or semi-custom approach for each job? Sure, it's easier to plumb together some pre-packaged residential pods from a big manufacturer and be done with it, but too often that type of configuration ends up costing more (both short and long term) than if the system had been properly engineered and tailored specifically for each site. Big corporations do a lot of things well...customizing decentralized systems on a case-by-case basis for commercial applications is not one of them.