TITLE:
Increased Effluent Dosage Effects on On-Site Wastewater Treatment Systems of Differing Architecture Type
AUTHORS:
Andrew Gibbons, Kristofor R. Brye, Sam Dunn, Edward E. Gbur, Andrew N. Sharpley, Wen Zhang
KEYWORDS:
On-Site Wastewater, Ozark Highlands, Profile-Limited Soil, Wastewater Treatment
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.6 No.6,
June
30,
2015
ABSTRACT: Approximately 20% of homes nationwide use an on-site treatment system as a form of household wastewater management. However, approximately 10% to 20% of on-site treatment systems malfunction each year, many of which have either failed or exceeded the soil’s long-term acceptance rate (LTAR), causing environmental and human health risks. The objective of this field study was to evaluate the effects of soil condition (e.g., wet and dry) and product architecture type [i.e., chamber, gravel-less-pipe (GLP), polystyrene-aggregate, and pipe-and-aggregate] on in-product solution storage and biomat thickness in a profile-limited soil in northwest Arkansas under increased loading rates and to estimate the LTAR for each product. During Phase I of this study (March 13 to October 4, 2013), effluent loading rates were approximately doubled, while rates were approximately quadrupled during Phase II (October 8, 2013 to May 29, 2014), from the maximum allowable loading rate for each product. The pipe-and-tire-chip, 46-cm-wide trench pipe-and-gravel, and the 25-cm diameter GLP products had the greatest (p