Results from the lab and other things

I thought you might like to see some more lab results from an actual system that has been in use for about 5 years.  In that time the owner has not had to replace or repair any equipment.  The fixed film MetaRocks media looks like new and has never needed to be hosed off, fluffed, trimmed or removed for cleaning.  The system is technically a single residence treatment unit but serves a duplex in one of the coldest areas of Montana.  As you can see on the attached lab analysis, the results from the system are pretty good. 

Allow me to be candid,  but we all know what the numbers from onsite systems look like.  We all have seen the full page advertisements for 16 mg/l TN from some study halfway across the world.  If you take a look at the dozens of studies and tons of marketing material manufacturers are so proud of, it is clear that the Eliminite results below are off the scale great results .  This fact becomes even more compelling if you consider that the system has received no maintenance, it receives only annual inspections.  I realize the statement that our systems produce superior results without the constant babysitting necessary to keep other systems running is sacrilegious to regulators, but it is the truth.  

Last years lab sample taken from the system showed TN at 9 mg/L.    Apparently Eliminite gets better with age.

These numbers above are consistent with the third-party testing that was recently completed in New Mexico.  We were part of a state funded study looking at maintenance requirements for several systems.  Eliminite had the best overall numbers and averaged about 7 mg/L TN for the duration of the study. 

It is interesting that our TN results form a tight grouping and are not scattered all over the place like most systems.  One manufacturer I spoke with is of the opinion that individual system results should not carry as much weight as the statistical average of all their systems.  Honest!  I am not making this up!

Following his logic, convoluted as it may be, means that if I were to get pulled over for going 80 mph in a 55 mph zone, I should be able to argue that my average speed since I left home was under the speed limit and get off without a ticket.  In reality you would probably get two tickets: one for speeding and another for being an idiot.  How can you even argue with such tripe?  It seems more reasonable to me that each system must stand on its own.  The problem with that approach would be that most manufacturers would have to exhume 50% or more of their units and retrofit with Eliminite.  Well. not a problem for Eliminite anyway.

We are doing just that, exhuming a system and replacing it with an Eliminite, at a convenience store.  The current onsite system included all the promises and rhetoric about how wonderful it it is.  Too bad the discharge permit did not consider a weighted average of TN, glossy brochures, fancy marketing and big promises.


Onsite Installer article

Onsite Installer featured two of our highway rest area systems in last months issue.  We learned before the article went to publication that the true influent nitrogen concentration is generally between 400 and 500 mg/L TN.  This makes our 28 mg/L effluent TN even sweeter.  I am in the process of reducing the effluent TN further. I will post results here soon.