Recent News

Highway Rest Areas

The wastewater treatment systems at the rest areas are performing beyond expectations.  We pulled a sample on Memorial Day weekend and sent it off to the lab for analysis.  Influent from  these facilities is quite concentrated; Bod runs 1500 to 4000 mg/l, total nitrogen is 350 to 500 mg/l.   Here are the effluent results:
Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen as N 11.0 mg/L
Ammonia as N 8.07 mg/L
Nitrate + Nitrite as N 20.5 mg/L
Total Nitrogen 31 mg/L
Carbonaceous BOD, mg/L 3.6 mg/L
Total Suspended Solids, mg/L 12 mg/L

These results are better than what most systems can achieve with residential wastewater.  The state of Maryland’s, Bay Restoration Fund, using what they refer to as “Best Available Technology” fails to produce results this good even though those systems are receiving household wastewater.   

Back from Colorado

We were in Colorado last week again working on a nice project.  We are providing  expertise helping the developer gain county approval for a small residential PUD.  It was interesting to hear from other members of the development about the last project they worked on that used onsite systems.  In a conscientious move, the developer committed to requiring  advanced treatment systems on each lot.  They selected a system and wrote the manufacturer into the guidelines.  Once the project was approved, once the manufacturer figured they were locked in, we were told by the development team that the manufacturer raised their prices to the homeowners dramatically.   I am sure we will be installing Eliminite systems at that development this summer because our initial cost is thousands of dollars less and our maintenance costs are much lower.

West Yellowstone Montana
It looks like an existing development in West Yellowstone, Montana, will continue to pollute groundwater with its failed sewage system for at least another year. This is in spite of the fact that it is under an administrative order to replace the system and that all the necessary funding is in place.  In my opinion this is a crime against the environment and is unequivocally due to the incompetence of the project engineer. 

 The engineer was determined to conduct an unfair RFP process by specifying only a single advanced treatement system manufacturer.  The Dept. of Environmental Quality had to force the engineer to hold a fair Request For Proposals.  However, the the engineer was so singularly focused on ommitting  other manufacturers from the bidding that they fouled up important aspects of the project such as the discharge permit.  In the end, I heard their preferred vendor backed out because they could not meet the final discharge permit limits.   The limits were not even that restrictive....we meet them all the time. 

The whole thing was so clearly rigged that we did not even waste our time submitting a proposal.   The sad thing is we could have completed the project for ten of thousands of dollars less than the bid they selected and could have had it completed in about two months. But instead, the sewage lagoon continues to leak raw wastewater into the groundwater a few miles from Yellowstone National Park.   Wastewater isn't the only "dirty" aspect of this business.

Money on the Table

Thanks to our most active spring yet, it has been a few months since I put up a post. We have been busy in North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, and California. As people hear of us, learn what we can do and compare our advanced wastewater treatment systems to competing systems, they recognize that Eliminite is the best onsite system available for their money.

Last week we installed an Eliminite system at a college in a scenic mountain community in Colorado. Due to the general contractor’s tight deadline for completion, we started the Eliminite installation on a Friday afternoon and, by midday the next day, the system was completed, tested, and switched into automatic mode. The layout was one of our standard C-Series, the same design that is now being copied by other manufacturers. I guess we should have guessed that would happen since, for our clients’ convenience, we posted detailed technical drawings of our firm’s design online, and our Google Analytics showed that our competitors were accessing our site regularly around the time the copy-cat behavior began. In fact, one of the copy-cats bid this job originally, but ultimately lost it to us. Interestingly, once the job was complete, we were told by several professionals associated with the job that we “left too much money on the table.”

Apparently, Eliminite ended up at half the cost of the competing technology; for an advanced onsite wastewater treatment system of this size, half represents a significant amount of money. However, the suggestion that we somehow inadvertently “left money on the table” is incorrect.

We were provided specifications for the job and gave the owner a fair price for a reliable wastewater treatment system, without regard for what we thought our competition might have bid, or how much money the school might be able to scrape together to sink into their onsite system. Our firm doesn’t play those all-too-common “bidding games”, partly because (take note, competitors) manipulative bidding practices and price-fixing based on competitors’ pricing is ILLEGAL, but mostly because we believe that offering a high quality product for a fair price is the better long-term business model, and is the primary reason Eliminite has enjoyed consistent growth, even during this economic downturn. The project engineer for the college was protecting his client’s interests by looking beyond fancy marketing schemes and flashy brochures for a system that would match the needs of the school.

That is an important consideration that is often ignored in the engineering community. Aggressive marketing campaigns, overly-attentive distributors (you know, the kind who “drop in” every few weeks to remind engineers not to consider competing technologies, and to drop off another $500 stack of brochures for the engineers to distribute to clients) require an enormous investment by the manufacturer; costs associated with marketing and advertising and multiple middlemen are necessarily passed along to consumers. So, it’s fair to say, the cost of a treatment technology rises proportionately with the costs of marketing; instead of paying more for a better treatment technology, consumers end up paying more for a better marketing campaign.

Unfortunately, shiny binders and frequent visits to engineering firms won’t help ensure consistent compliance with permit requirements and, contrary to popular belief, slick marketing does not always translate into better business practices, better products, or better product support. Anyone out there remember the supremely well-marketed Ford Pinto? And how about those really cool magnetic bracelets that are supposed to cure almost every ailment? And last, but not least, how about Facebook stock? Millions in advertising for products that just plain failed to live up to the marketing hype. I’m not saying competing wastewater technologies that are well-marketed are all junk, I’m just suggesting that the wide-eyed adoration I’ve witnessed from certain members of the onsite wastewater treatment community toward manufacturers who “have great marketing” (I hear this constantly) might be misplaced, and certainly shouldn’t result in the irrational, single-track thinking and single-brand loyalty that characterizes this field…ESPECIALLY when consumers trust their engineers to inform them about ALL of their treatment options, not just the one the engineer happens to think of first because that brand’s vendor bought him lunch last week or flew him out to visit their plant and play a couple rounds of golf.

Remember, in the end, the consumer pays for those lunches and “free” plant visits and classes and marketing materials, and, when those activities are taking place across the entire country, you can imagine how quickly those costs add up. That said, Eliminite staff is always happy to offer classes or take interested wastewater professionals out for lunch—we’re just more selective about where and when we participate in those activities, because we understand that consumers can’t always afford to pay the extra costs.

If you, as the client, need an advanced wastewater treatment system for your home, business or other facility, and you have not been informed that Eliminite is one of your options, you can be sure nobody is going to leave too much money on YOUR table at the end of the day.

I really want to put some photos of the system up but every time I show detailed photos, the competition comes out with a new model based on our design (not kidding). If you contact me, I will share the photos with you and answer any questions you may have about our engineering services and wastewater treatment products.

Eliminite System Profile

Update on these systems:

The most recent Total Nitrogen result was

11 mg/L

ELEVEN MILLIGRAMS PER LITER

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Eliminite treated wastewater sample from a daycare facility.

The system was installed by Justin Buchanan of Eon NW located in Bozeman, MT

Sample Results
Ammonia: 0.7 mg/L
TKN: 1.7 mg/L
BOD5: 3.5 mg/L
TSS: 0.0 mg/L

Have you downloaded a free copy yet?

http://squirtonsite.blogspot.com/#!/2011/06/squirt-is-no-longer-patent-pending.html

Best Available Technology

Remember this post?

A few weeks ago I showed you the 10 day results (before and after) of a mixed use (commercial and residential) septic system we retro-fit with an Eliminite.  Today I want to give you the total nitrogen numbers.  The sample was collected about a week ago.  Think.....December in Montana. 

TKN: 6 mg/L

NO2+NO3: 1.8 mg/L

Total Nitrogen:  7.8 mg/L.

This means that in a few weeks, at high altitude, in Montana cold, an Eliminite system transformed the wastewater on the left into treated effluent with a total nitrogen concentration below the safe drinking water standard.  No alarms...no media cleaning...no cube fluffing...just trouble free operation and great results.

I have been thinking and it has become clear to me that,

 Eliminite's worst numbers are better than other systems best numbers.

And our prices are lower. 

I forgot to tell you about this one

A beautiful residential development on the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Bozeman, MT

needed to upgrade their onsite wastewater treatment system.  The HOA hired an engineering firm to prepare plans and explore treatment options for the 70+ lot system. 

Three manufacturers provided proposals for the new system.

After reviewing the proposals with their engineer, the HOA decided to award the job to Eliminite. 

Maybe it was our lower cost or simpler maintenance.  Maybe it was our robust telemetry system.  It could have been that our treatment numbers are significantly better or that our systems do not have the visual impact of the others.
Maybe it was a combination of all these factors.

I can say with certainty that if you need an advanced onsite wastewater treatment system and you have not considered Eliminite, you will probably be paying more for a lower quality treatment system, period.

Here is an interesting news flash

Maryland auditors recommend criminal probe of septic system upgrade contractsBALTIMORE — Questionable septic system upgrade contracts totaling $1 million have been referred to the attorney general’s criminal division, according to an audit of the Maryland Department of the Environment released Thursday.
The average cost of 57 MDE-administered contracts awarded to two contractors was about $19,000, more than $7,200 higher than other projects statewide. And the cost for the 57 projects was more than $400,000 higher than similar projects, the auditors found.

As soon as I find out more details I'll post it here.