Sewage Treatment Plant Systems
Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater by physical, chemical, and biological processes. Its objective is to produce a treated effluent that can be released into the environment.
When would I need a sewage treatment plant?
The most cost effective and simplistic sewage treatment system to install is a septic tank and soakaway. Not every property is able to have this system. The soil may be heavy clay and lack porosity, the total land area unavailable, the site situated in a ground water zone or the site situated on a slope. Any combination of the above issues might mean that a sewage treatment plant needs to be installed.
Treated effluent from a sewage treatment plant can be legally discharged into a watercourse with the correct Environmental Permit from the Environment Agency. Equally a sewage treatment plant can be used to shorten the soakaway area needed to be installed.
How do I know what my site needs?
The easiest thing to do is pick up the phone and call David or Naomi 01984 623404. We can talk through your treatment needs, including any existing systems you may have, future plans for the site, Environment Agency Permit and Building Control Regulations and budget costs. Systems can be designed to be installed under driveways and with very shallow inverts.
What is a sewage Treatment plant?
There are a variety of plants on the market today. They are all based on a variation of the same simple process of introducing oxygen to bacteria in order to allow the breakdown of raw sewage. Some rely on fixing bacteria on plastic media, others rely on bacteria forming their own free floating colonies. Oxygen can be delivered by remote air blowers/ compressors outside the plant or passively by rotating media disks through water that are also exposed to the air or by airlifting water that gravitates through media blocks above the water line. There is always a need to remove the inorganic elements of the raw sewage which cannot be decomposed within the plant. These are removed from the plant by licensed desludging contractors and are deposited in municipal water treatment works for further treatment.
I already have an existing septic tank. Can I still use it?
If your existing septic tank is fit for purpose i.e. a water retaining structure of sufficient size, we can continue to use the tank to settle out the incoming raw sewage. A new separate tank is added on behind the septic tank which provides aeration and clarification, increasing the quality of the discharge effluent to that of a package sewage treatment plant. There are no mechanical or electrical parts inside the plant and a quiet, all-weather, reliable, low consumption air blower supplies oxygen into the plant from above-ground.
Larger Applications
Over the last two and a half decades, WCI has designed many waste water treatment schemes, addressing multiple dwelling, and industrial waste water applications such as golf and country clubs, racecourses, housing developments, office complexes and hotels.
All systems are bespoke and as we design and manufacture our own plants, unusual or difficult applications can be easily accommodated. Each system is designed for our individual clients needs and can include reed bed (link) treatment for secondary or tertiary applications.
Below are a couple of case studies:
> Midlands UK
An International Company employing 800, including a busy canteen, discharging to a watercourse with a consent of 10 mg/l Ammonia as N. Magistrates had fined the Company £28,000 for breaching their treatment quality. WCI installed pre-treatment, aeration and extended Ammonia-stripping facilities. The maintenance staff are fully involved in understanding both the design and monitoring. Daily monitoring of the treated effluent has now moved to weekly testing and at no stage has the Ammonia reached 2 mg/l as N. WCI are addressing Phase 2 in 2008.
> South East UK
A Large hotel with over 80 bedrooms and 50 support staff, with an existing pumped application to a main sewer. After taking levels throughout a 3 km heath land, and discussions with Natural England, WCI installed a gravity pipe line under an SSSI. The seed bank was saved, and a 40 year problematic pumping situation was instead served by gravity. Grease traps were installed along with a water harvesting system.
Contact WCI now on 01984 623404 to discuss your private sewage treatment system options and arrange a site visit (free for those situated within 50 miles of Wiveliscombe, otherwise there will be a charge for mileage only).