Residential & Light Commercial Sewage Treatment Plants

POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about the different types of septic systems, onsite wastewater disposal systems used for private onsite wastewater and graywater treatment & disposal

Packaged onsite septic systems for difficult sites or cluster septic systems for community wastewater treatment.

This septic system article series lists and describes all of the types of septic systems, including both conventional septic tank and drainfield systems and alternative septic system designs for difficult building sites such as wet sites, steep sites, rocky sites, limited space, bad soils with no percolation or sandy soils with too fast percolation, and other difficult site conditions.

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Cluster & Packaged Septic Systems: Onsite Residential and Small Commercial Septic Systems

Daniel Friedman, Massachusetts Title 5 Licensed Septic System Inspector, & New York State H.I. License # 16000005303 (inception to 2008).

Cluster and package centralilzed wastewater treatment systems can handle both clulsters of buildings (more cost-efficient and more-likely to work than many small septic systems in densely populated areas), and in smaller designs, packaged septic treatment systems can support individual buildings or private homes.

These complete packaged onsite wastewater treatment systems can produce sufficiently cleaned and treated wastewater that these systems may be permitted where local regulations would not permit a conventional septic tank and absorption field.

These packaged wastewater treatment plants are sold in sizes and designs suitable for residential and other smaller, non-commercial installations.

There are several packaged septic system and cluster septic system designs.

Cluster or Centralized Septic System Designs

Pressure-driven centralized septic systems,

typically using a grinder pump that delivers sewage to a centralized septic tank and drainfield system
STEP Septic Design:

A variation on pressure-driven centralized septic designs is the STEP system that uses individual septic tanks at buildings whose clarified effluent is pumped to a centralized effluent disposal field or drainfield.
Gravity-operated

centralized or packaged septic systems: individual septic tanks send effluent by gravity to a central disposal field - a variant on the STEP system outlined above.

The US EPA illustration of a typical cluster septic system, shown above, is a gravity-operated cluster septic system design - cited below. .
Vacuum operated

centralized packaged septic systems: a central pumping station supports multiple buildings by using a large centralized pump that draws sewage to the central septic tank by suction.

Suction or vacuum centralized septic deigns are limited by the head or lift required so work better in low-slope sites or flat sites.

Packaged Wastewater Treament Plants

Packaged septic systems range in capacity from sizes suitable for single family residences (750-1500 gallon septic tanks) to commercial applications such as camps, hotels, hospitals, having to process hundreds of thousands of gallons or more of wastewater daily.

Larger packaged septic designs typically use cascaded or in-series septic tanks and additional treatment phases to control the effluent output qualities by trapping trash, removing scum and froth, re-cycling activated sewage sludge, and additional steps of filtration, disinfection (chlorination and then de-chlorination of the effluent before disposal), and finally post-aeration and de-watering of sludge for separate disposal.

Check with your local building department and local septic engineers. Some aerobic treatment units or ATUs may also meet this specification. Some example suppliers of packaged onsite wastewater treatment systems are listed below.

Packaged Septic System Designs, Codes, Suppliers, Research

Orenco AdvanTex($) Residential Wastewater Treatment System cited & discussed at InspectApedia.com

Illustration: Orenco® AdvanTex® AX20RT Residential Wastewater Treatment Package System, illustration retrieved 2019/04/22,

Orenco is cited below. Illustration as shown here - R.C. Worst & Company Inc. 625 E. Best Avenue Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814 USA, Tel: 855.329.4519 other offices in Spokane WA & Idaho Falls ID. Email: customer.service@rcworst.com, original source: https://www.rcworst.com/AdvanTex-sup-174-/sup-Residential-Treatment-Systems-pg104.html

"Sewage Treatment System" is used by some wastewater treatment product suppliers and designers to distinguish between conventional single-residence wastewater treatment and disposal systems such as a tank and drainfield or an aerobic treatment unit or sand bed filter, and systems which either

1.) completely treat raw sewage to provide an effluent output sufficiently sanitary to discharge to an unregulated surface or to a waterway, or

2.) systems which serve clusters of residential homes. Reading various manufacturer's language, we have found such inconsistent language on this term that we are researching and collecting data to clear up this confusion. It will appear here.

See our full list of sewage treatment and septic system design articles in the ARTICLE INDEX.

Cheap and technically user friendly sewage treatment facilities that can be rapidly put into place whereever natural disasters have caused damage to the residential sewage disposal system are required.

One of the most important steps to prevent disease outbreaks in Disaster struck regions is getting the Sewage Disposal system to function efficiently. - Dr C N S P Ra

Product Source List for Packaged Septic Treatment Systems

Also see ALTERNATIVE DESIGN SEPTIC SYSTEM SUPPLIERS
Also see MEDIA FILTER SEPTIC SYSTEMS
ADVANCED Septic Treatment Systems, Inc, Sedro Woolley, WA Tel: 360-856-0550 , email: SalesTeam-at-trd1000.com - TRD-1000 aerobic treatment system unit. Quoting:

The TRD-1000 revolutionized the concept of a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) for small flow wastewater treatment installations.

The drop-in packaged treatment plant is easily installed in less than a day and produces a quality effulent that exceeds NSF Treatment Standard 40.Certified in 1998 by NSF International to meet all requirements of the Standard 40 testing protocol, ten years later (2008) the TRD-1000 was retested and certified to Standard 40.

The system continues to surpass NSF Standard 40 and all other ATU's in it's effulent quality.
Bio-Microbics manufactures a wide variety of innovative wastewater and stormwater products that provide unique solutions for decentralized homes, clustered subdivisions, small communities and commercial properties around the world. Contact: Bio-Microbics Inc., 800-753-FAST (3278), (913) 422-0707, (913) 422-0808(fax) or by email to jcisneros@biomicrobics.com
CAJUNAIRE Wastewater Treatment Systems, 500 gpd to 1000 gpd ATU systems, aerobic sprinkler systems, wastewater pumps, wastewater disinfection systems including chlorination and UV light: from H. E. McGrew, Louisiana
CLEARSTREAM Wastewater Systems, Inc., 4899 US Hwy 69 South, Lumberton, Texas 77657, Tel: 800-586-3656, Website: http://www.clearstreamsystems.com.
CONSOLIDATED Treatment Systems including suspended media treatment systems, aerobic wastewater treatment systems, and reactor vessel wastewater treatment systems.
Illustration: Orenco AdvanTex® ATU described and cited below.
[Click to enlarge any image]
Delta POD Series™ ECOPOD® Advanced Wastewater Treatment, for individual residential installations, cluster designs, and small-to-medium commercial applications. Delta Environmental, , 8263 Florida Blvd., Denham Springs LA 70726, USA, Tel: 800-219-91283, Website: http://www.deltaenvironmental.com/ecopod.asp
Ecological Tanks Inc., 2247 Highway 151 North, Downsville, LA 71234 USA Tel: 318-644-0397 Fax: 318-644-7257. E-Mail: aquasafe@bayou.com Website: http://www.etiaquasafe.com/Website excerpt: Ecological Tanks, Inc. manufactures the Aqua Safe Aerobic Treatment Plants in both fiberglass and concrete, and also the Aqua Aire Aerobic Treatment Plants in concrete only.

Both plant designs are certified by NSF to Standard 40 criteria. Ecological Tanks offers an extensive line of sizes and configurations including pretanks, pump tanks, aerators, water pumps, floats, controls and packaged drip systems.
NSF / ANSI 40: Residential Onsite Systems, described by NSF, worldwide offices, NSF International P.O. Box 130140 \ 789 N. Dixboro Road Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA e info@nsf.org p +1 734 769 8010 f +1 734 769 0109 Toll Free USA +1800 NSF MARK (800 673 6275)
NSF/ANSI 40 is a standard for residential wastewater treatment systems with rated capacities between 400 and 1,500 gallons (1,514 and 5,678 liters) per day. We can evaluate any kind of system, regardless of treatment technology, in test facilities in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
To achieve certification, treatment systems must produce an acceptable quality of effluent during a six-month (26-week) test.
Class I systems must achieve a 30-day average effluent quality of 25 mg/L CBOD5 and 30 mg/L TSS or less, and pH 6.0-9.0 spanning six months of testing.
System service and maintenance are prohibited during the test period.
For more information on NSF/ANSI 40, call +1 734.827.5668 or email wastewater@nsf.org.
Website: http://www.nsf.org/services/by-industry/water-wastewater/onsite-wastewater/residential-wastewater-treatment-systems
Hallahan, Dennis, Larry Earney, HIGH PERFORMANCE Tanks Yield More Efficient Delivery and Installation [PDF] Infiltrator Water Technologies, [cited below], Email: info@infiltratorwater.com Tel: 800-221-4436 Website: infiltratorwater.com retrieved 2019/04/22 original source: https://www.infiltratorwater.com/white-papers/high-performance-tanks-yield-more-efficient-delivery-and-installation/

HOOT AEROBIC SEPTIC SYSTEMS including ATUs, blowers, controls, disinfection systems, and wastewater treatment monitoring systems.

HOOT Systems LLC., 2885 Highway 14E, Lake Charles LA 70607 Tel: 1-800-878-HOOT Website: http://www.hootsystems.com/

The HOOT Aerobic Treatment System is a complete five-stage, one piece wastewater treatment system. This feature-packed aerobic treatment system operates like a small municipal treatment plant.

See details at HOOT AEROBIC SEPTIC TROUBLESHOOTING
Infiltrator Water Technologies,

4 Business Park Road P.O. Box 768 Old Saybrook, CT 06475 USA Tel: 800-221-4436 Website: https://www.infiltratorwater.com/ - Delta Package Treatment Plants, "designed to convert flows of 3,000 to 100,000 gallonse per day into clear odor-free effluent.
Jensen Precast,

825 Steneri Way Sparks, NV 89431 USA Tel: 775-352-2700 Email: info@jensenprecast.com - a supplier serving the western U.S. whose products include dosing pumps, lift tanks, siphon tanks, holding tanks, surge tanks, pit liners.
Kaiser, Jonathan.

A COMPARISON of ENERGY USE and Carbon Generated from the Operation and Maintenance of Passive Onsite and Centralized Wastewater Treatment Systems, [PDF] Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation 2018, no. 17 (2018): 842-860. Retrieved 2019/04/22 original source: https://www.infiltratorwater.com/Customer-Content/www/white-papers/PDFs/KAISER.pdf

Klargester Sewage Treatment Plants in the U.K. ,

Kingspan Wastewater Management, Tel: +441296633000 Website: www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/wastewater-management

Klargester systems (*from Kingspan) currently (2019) sold for residential applications include

Klargester BIODisc BA - BC Domestic Sewage Treatment Plant, capacity: 18 people

Klargester BioFicient Domestic Sewage Treatment Plant, designed to meet shoallow dig requirements, capacity 30 PE and installation in trafficked areas

Klargester BioTec Domestic Sewage Treatment Plant, the company's "standard" aerobic septic treatment plant, capacity 6-25 PE.
Jones, Don, Jacqui Bauer, Richard Wise, Alan Dunn, SMALL COMMUNITY WASTEWATER CLUSTER SYSTEMS [PDF] ID-265, Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service, retrieved 2019/04/22 original source: extension.purdue. edu/extmedia/ID/ID-265.pdf Excerpt

In areas served by municipal wastewater facilities, sewage is transported away from homes in large diameter gravity sewers to a central plant where it is treated and discharged into a waterway.

Outside of these areas, most individual residences must rely on a septic tank and soil absorption field, or on-site system, to dispose of their wastewater.

Cluster systems bridge the gap between these two systems in small communities where neither of the first two systems is feasible.
NORWECO Aerobic Systems

Norwalk Wastewater Equipment Company, Inc., 220 Republic Street Norwalk, Ohio 44857-1156 USA, 419-668-4471 Fax:419-663-5440. Website: http://www.norweco.com/
NY State DOH, RESIDENTIAL ONSITE WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS DESIGN HANDBOOK [PDF], New York State Department of Health, retrieved 2019/04/22 orignal source: https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/wastewater_treatment_systems/docs/design_handbook.pdf
NYADIC Wastewater Treatment Systems, Consolidated Treatment Systems, 1501 Commerce Center Drive Franklin, Ohio 45005 Phone 937-746-2727 Fax 937-746-1446 1-800-503-0163, Website: www.consolidatedtreatment.com

Orenco Systems, Inc., 814 Airway Avenue, Sutherlin, OR 97479 USA, +1 (541) 459-4449 / (800) 348-9843 provides engineered packaged septic systems and water-tight wastewater handlign systems. Website: http://www.orenco.com/sales/

Orenco Septic Systems include gravity septic systems, advanced treatment unit or ATU septic systems and pumping systems, all generally using a clarification chamber that moves effluent by gravity or pumping to an effluent disposal area.

Illustration above: Orenco's AdvanTex® ATU that the company describes as follows:

Orenco’s AdvanTex® Treatment Systems provide environmentally sustainable treatment of residential wastewater flows. They’re the ideal solution for difficult soils, small sites, system upgrades and repairs, new installations, pretreatment, nitrogen reduction, and disinfection.

One of the major benefits of AdvanTex is that it provides, consistent, reliable advanced treatment under real-world conditions, not just in a controlled testing environment.

And one reason for that is AdvanTex Treatment Systems process and discharge small amounts of treated wastewater throughout the day, so surges don’t overwhelm your system.

The treated effluent is so clean it can be reused for subsurface irrigation (where regulations allow) or discharged to shallow, inconspicuous trenches. - retrieved 2019/04/22 original source: https://www.orenco.com/applications/residential/choose-a-system#4703-advanced-treatment-systems
SeptiTech,

69 Holland St.,Lewiston ME 04240 USA, Tel: 207-333-6940, email: info@septitech.com - wastewater treatment products for properties not hooked up to a public sewering system, including SeptiTech® STAAR™ System
SSI Aeration,

MMBR Systems (moving bed bioreactor systems) SSI Aeration, Inc. 4 Tucker Drive Poughkeepsie NY 12603 USA +1-845-454-8171 +1-845-454-8094 Website: http://www.ssiaeration.com/
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Wastewater Management Decentralized Program, epa.gov/uic/large-capacity-septic-systems#lcss
US EPA septic system type illustrations including Cluster Septic System, Constructed Wetland Septic System, Evapotranspiration Septic System, Sand Filter Bed Septic System, Mound Septic System, Aerobic Treatment Septic System, Drip Distribution Septic System, No-Rock or Chamber Septic System, conventional septic tank and drainfield septic system, and a two chamber septic tank with outlet filter were provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, cited from Types of Septic Systems, U.S. EPA, retrieved 2019/04/22 original source: https://www.epa.gov/septic/types-septic-systems
US EPA ONSITE WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS MANUAL Top Reference: US EPA's Design Manual for Onsite Wastewater Treatment and Disposal, 1980, available from the US EPA, the US GPO Superintendent of Documents (Pueblo CO), and from the National Small Flows Clearinghouse. Original source http://www.epa.gov/ORD/NRMRL/Pubs/625R00008/625R00008.htm

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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

How do I assess the condition of 30 year old steel Klargester sewage treatment tank

The apartment I am thinking about buying has klargester. It’s steel and around 30 years old. Is this likely to need replacing in the next few years - 2019/08/04 Martin

Reply:

Martin:

You don't give the country and city of the apartment you're buying.

You don't tell us if the Klargester equipment at the site is a steel septic tank or a more sophisticated onsite sewage treatment plant (which is probably the case for an apartment building ).

You don't tell us the size of the apartment building nor its number of occupants.

We also don't have any information about the site, site conditions, onsite evidence of septi system condition, quality of maintnance, etc.

Even something as basic as soil chemistry can affect the life expectancy of a buried steel tank or other steel components.

No one can assess the condition of a septic system based on a one-line email, despite the age that you cite. Everything depends on the actual condition of the system and how it has been maintained: not just a steel tank but the entire system.

You need an onsite inspection and perhaps some testing by an expert, and you may also want to see any records of the details of maintenance and repair of the particular Klargester system (you don't say which one is installed) at the property.

Klargester Water Management produces a range of commercial and residential sewage treatment systems, septic tanks, and related equipment.

Shown here is a snapshot of one of the company's small wastewater treatment systems for non-commercial use. You'll notice that the company's CURRENT products focus on plastic or fiberglass tanks and containers.

You will also want to see the specification, maintnance instructions, and advice for the specific wastewater treatment system from Klargester themselves.

You can contact Klargester Wastewater Management in the U.K. at
Kingspan Wastewater Management, Tel: +441296633000 Website: www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/wastewater-management

Some photos of the site, the equipment and other answers to our questions would help us make more useful comment. Let me know what you find.

Can we shoehorn a septic system onto a site with very limited space?

I have a tight space for getting septic in. steep in back and not much room on other sides of lot. [ see photo shown above] 2019-04-18 by Meredith McIntosh -

Reply by (mod)

Meredith

You need an on-site septic engineer who can look at
- available space
- soil perc
- local septic regulations
- encumbrances such as nearby wateways

and propose an appropriate system

Just bringing in the tank may be easier using a fiberglass tank but you need space for effluent disposal - a drainfield

or if there is literally not enough space, your local health department might approve a packaged wastewater treatment system that can discharge sanitary effluent.

See details above on this page.

And see the aerobic and peat septic system links in our page end Recommended Articles.

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Citations & Reviewers

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

Tafgard soil based wastewater evaporation / transpiration system by Taisei Kogyo Co., Ltd., Japan. Contact Shuichi Sato, Manager of Taisei Kogyo Co., Ltd., 15-36 Yonehara 6-chome, Yonago, Tottori, 683-0804 Japan Tel. +81-859-32-1135 Fax. +81-859-34-0933, info@taisei-wastewater.jp
"International Private Sewage Disposal Code," 1995, BOCA-708-799-2300, ICBO-310-699-0541, SBCCI 205-591-1853, available from those code associations.
"Manual of Policy, Procedures, and Guidelines for Onsite Sewage Systems," Ontario Reg. 374/81, Part VII of the Environmental Protection Act (Canada), ISBN 0-7743-7303-2, Ministry of the Environment,135 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto Ontario M4V 1P5 Canada $24. CDN.
US HEW, MANUAL of SEPTIC TANK PRACTICE [PDF] 1975, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Servicve, original source: https://nepis.epa.gov/
Manual of Septic Tank Practice, US Public Health Service's 1957, reprinted in 1963, 1967, 1969 and in a 1975 edition given just above.
Advanced Onsite Wastewater Systems Technologies, Anish R. Jantrania, Mark A. Gross. Anish Jantrania, Ph.D., P.E., M.B.A., is a Consulting Engineer, in Mechanicsville VA, 804-550-0389 (2006), Advanced Onsite Wastewater Systems Technologies.
The NSFC Products List has an excellent list of design manuals/modules National Small Flows Clearinghouse (NSFC) now (2019/12/13) hosted at http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/ Tel: 304-293-4191 e-mail info@mail.nesc.wvu.edu.

The National Small Flows Clearinghouse (NSFC) was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help America's small communities and individuals solve their wastewater problems through objective information about onsite wastewater collection and treatment systems. NSFC products and information are the only national resource of its type, dealing with small community wastewater infrastructure. or by telephone 800-624-8301
"Septic Tank/Drainfield System Fact Sheet", Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Drinking Water, Source Protection Program - (801) 536-4200 Division of Water Quality - (801) 538-6146 Sonja Wallace, Pollution Prevention Coordinator - (801) 536-4477 Environmental Hotline - 1-800-458-0145 - Original source: http://www.drinkingwater.utah.gov/documents/spec_services/pollution_prevention_septic_tanks.pdf
New York State Wastewater Treatment Standards - Individual Household Systems, Appendix 75-A (1990), Public Health Law 201(1)(1).
New York State Alternative Septic System Design Regulations, Wastewater Treatment Standards - Individual Household Systems, Appendix 75-A, of Public Health Law 201(1)(1) 1990.
Ecoflo Pennsylvania system - distributed in Falling Springs Technologies, PO Box 410, Newburg, PA 17240 http://www.ecoflopa.com - (814) 632-9692.
Puraflo peat biofilter – distributed in Pennsylvania by Site Development Services, PO Box 5873, Wyomissing, PA 19610, 610-478-9900, puraflo1@comcast.net

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