Sewage treatment

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by Paddy82, Jan 3, 2010.

  1. Paddy82

    Paddy82 Junior Member

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    Ok so I'm looking into the possibility of going completely off grid in my future home. And there are loads of exciting challenges to this, one of which is how to handle waste water. I had my mind set for the Biolytix system, but now I'm seeing some more ecologically and economically viable options pop up around the internet. VegTech (Swedish) has one, EcoVillage has one etc., but I can't find the blueprints or any books on the subject, and this is where I request your help.
    What would be the different stages of purification, and how do you set that up? What scale are we talking for coping with black/grey water from one household?

    And another random thing that ocurred to me, is there a way to aerate the water without using a pump? Like a clever way of capturing air and releasing it in the water?

    Cattails seem good to use (also have secondary uses like the seeds for pillow stuffing etc), and duckweed is supposed to be a good water- purifier (spreads fast, but has it got any secondary uses I'm not thinking of?). Other suggestions on which plants to use?

    I realize this is not a very well thought out, and well structured post, but the bottom line is that I'm looking to learn as much as I can on this.
    In my case this will be situated around 55 degrees northern latitude- Southern Sweden.

    Thank you for any input on this.
     
  2. Bird

    Bird Junior Member

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    if you go compost toilet you will eliminate black water for a start
    google humanure and get free e-book on the subject, it also touches on gray water treatment
     
  3. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    g'day paddy,

    yes i'd opt' for a more affordable and simple system composting toilet run it as a dry ssytem that is only incidental wee, all other wee collected seperately and added daily to some of the grey water for garden use. as for grey water all grey water from the house can go direct and as fresh as to gardens etc.,. just look to what you use as detergents is all. nature-loo of course is teh simplest and most versatileespecially when adding extra capacity, and it need use no power, we used wind for ventilation and worms to compost the material of which 2 people will generate just over a large wheelbarrow full of humus material about every 6 to 7 months, that is not a lot for feeding hungry gardens with, and in the bottom of the bin lots of worm wee.

    with your future home look to design that give eco' qualities like warmth and cool naturally, think latteraly we built an eco' home that we know miss through circumstance it worked very well and was more economical to build that modern designs, keep it simple. our hosue could be totally lit with one light and on full moon days with the moon.

    len
     
  4. Paddy82

    Paddy82 Junior Member

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    Thank you guys for the replies.
    I try to keep my plans as simple as possible, and the dry loo was my first thought, but then the GF said no way. She basically does not want to go down the standard ladder, and living as anyone else at the moment has set her standards pretty high. I'm willing to compromise on a lot of things, she just won't do the same. So basically I need a system that will look and operate like "normal", at least on the inside of the house, if I want her along for the ride.

    I found this though, and it seems very interesting. I think I can work something out along those principles. I'll just need to look into how the tank works, I have no experience with those. It's basically a set of containers, and every one has a separate way of cleaning the water, from cattails to clams. I also read that using a certain type of mushroom, you could even remove e.coli bacteria from the water, if ever there were any, which apparently has been a problem until now (That is, not even modern treatment plants can get it out).
    I realise no one can tell me about the bureaucratic side of such an endeavour in my area, but how does it work where you are? Do you need permits, licenses etc?

    It IS a struggle though, trying to get it right by the girlfriend. I think low cost, she thinks luxury. She sees no food, I see Loads of left-overs.
     
  5. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    That's tricky about your GF. Is she on board with your ecological vision at all? Maybe you can design your home in a dual way eg put in a high tech toilet system, but also have the space and resources there to convert to a humanure system if needed. The problems I see around high tech systems is that you are so dependent on things like manufacture of parts. These are available now, but possibly this will become harder and harder with the problems the world is facing. I'm in a similar situation - do I design for how the world is now (which is generally easier), or how it may be in 10, 20 years time (when we have no idea what will have changed)?

    How do you envisage growing treatment plants at your lattitude all year round? Will you do this indoors?
     
  6. Paddy82

    Paddy82 Junior Member

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    Ok, first the hard part.
    At the moment I'm trying to care for all eventualities. Our official story as a couple is we're planning on moving to a green house. The more I learn about greener living though, the more I feel she doesn't. And it's at a point right now when that is really frustrating. Seems like she likes the sound of 'green', but don't really understand the concepts and the inherent sacrifices (down the standard ladder), and is not eager to learn. Sort of surfing my wave, if you understand... This goes for a lot of other things surrounding these plans as well.
    So slowly I've come to realize that I might have to do this thing on my own. It's not optimal for either of us, but I have set my mind down this track now, and I'm not turning back for anything- It's what I want to do and how I envisage the rest of my life, and so I feel ok with that thought.

    I know what you mean, and I think the best we can do is use whatever is best right now. There will always be a succession of technology, so hopefully we will be better and better off, providing this green streak continues.

    Yep, it'll have to be. Either in the greenhouse I'm planning to set for starting plants and growing plants off my zone, or in a smaller one right next to the main building. Should be easy enough to slap up a couple of planks and line it with plastic.
    I'm still unsure about the scale though. If it ends up being only me, maybe 5 or 6 oil drum- type containers could hold all the different filtration organisms, and then on to raised beds or into a pond. A little hard to plan exactly since I don't even have the land yet. And what's even worse, I'll eventually need to dig into the bureaucracy of the whole ordeal... *sigh*
     
  7. TCLynx

    TCLynx Junior Member

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    I rather agree with the keep it simple methods. (Often the easiest thing is to install an approved septic system or whatever and simply not use it as much as possible.)

    We Humanure compost but there is still a flush toilet in the house. With some people the idea stops them but once proved to them that it works, they jump in and realize that its just fine (my boyfriend didn't like the idea of Humanure composting at first but after having the compost pile reach 155 F, he has become a total convert to composting.) Other people have too much mental difficulty with the idea of emptying and cleaning buckets and they may never be converted.

    Trying to build and install a wetland to handle all water/sewage waste from a household is a high goal. I do wish you success in your endevor. Government regulations might be difficult to deal with though. My recommendation would be to install the standard approved stuff but leave yourself space to do things like humanure for the toilet and re-use the gray water in simple ways rather than trying to make a high tech system work. Most high tech gray water systems have issues and get abandoned due to their tendency to clog up and the expense of installing/maintaining them.
     
  8. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    "paddy pointed out,
    but then the GF said no way. She basically does not want to go down the standard ladder, and living as anyone else at the moment has set her standards pretty high."

    to go simple with a dry toilet is a step up to saving the planets resources and in permaculture recycle your own wast on your own site, and if you are going to go stand alone renewables the less things to run of that power the better. we never had a single guest complain about using our loo, no smell the only thing missing was that wastefull button. and grey water needs no treatment at all use it as fresh as! dunno might be time to sit down and work out relationship differences before going further, as what you plan could be made difficult if 1/2 involved realy don't want to go that way.

    guess your partener would never go for an eco' home like ours no matter how well it works.

    len
     

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