For Gene Bassett, precision permeates every aspect of every installation; it is not an accessory, an option or add-on.

Bassett, owner of E.C. Bassett Construction Inc., in Edgewood, N.M., precisely applies siting and installation regulations for each onsite system he installs or services. State regulatory minimum design standards are not enough: He “designs to a higher standard,” then installs the system exactly as designed and permitted.

Bassett Construction serves an area within about 160 miles of Edgewood, a small town about 20 miles east of Albuquerque. Bassett established his business in 1982, and ever since has been working as hard installing systems as he has to bring more science and emerging technologies into the regulations.

Like many installers, Bassett entered the industry when his general excavating customers liked what he did for them and asked him to install their onsite systems. To do the job right, he knew he needed to learn, so he joined NOWRA, and then the Florida Onsite Wastewater Association (FOWA) for what he saw as a top-notch education curriculum.

Different science

At training events in Florida and elsewhere, Bassett learned that “east coast” regulations address sites that have significant rainfall. In Bassett’s area, 6 inches of rain is a typical year’s supply. “Evaporation and transpiration drive the science in the arid southwest,” he says. “Around here, wind and air with very low humidity suck the water upward, then it evaporates.”

Surface vegetation patterns bear that out. Bassett and other installers report that vegetation will thrive above the absorption area’s sidewall along the boundary between disturbed and undisturbed soil. “The perimeter of the trench or bed is marked by weeds and sunflowers growing as high as 8 feet,” he says.

Soils in arid conditions have different characteristics, too. Bassett seldom encounters a seasonal high water table that influences site suitability. Groundwater is found between 400 and 1,000 feet down. Clay soil horizons, however, create impervious layers and can severely limit onsite systems.

“It is not that science is different here or that water’s behavior is inexplicable,” Bassett says. His mission is to recognize and understand how regional variations influence system behavior, then bring that science into the state’s regulations. Working with other members of the Professional Onsite Wastewater Reuse Association of New Mexico (POWRA), he has seen continued progress toward that goal.

Frontier pioneer

Bassett’s drive to match onsite technologies and system designs to various site characteristics has placed him on innovation’s front line. He is not afraid to be the first to install emerging treatment technologies or apply new installation tools and practices.

He was the first installer in his area to use laser-elevation control to assure “dead-on installations.” The technology enabled him to match precisely what he built with what he painstakingly designed and the regulators permitted. When New Mexico became the first state to approve the AdvanTex system from Orenco Systems Inc., Bassett completed the first installation.

An observer of subtleties with an analytical approach to overcoming site limitations, it was a natural for the state Department of Environmental Health to appoint him to its rule-writing committee in 1995. He has been involved ever since. In addition, his participation in POWRA lets him add his to the chorus of installer voices calling for and submitting formal petitions to change regulations the department has not addressed. Many of those proposals have been implemented.

More than the minimum

Along the way, his experiences, observations and insights have led him to avoid designs that merely satisfy the regulatory minimum. For example, the minimum installation width for trenches is 12 inches, “but most people can’t easily work in a trench that narrow,” Bassett says. Instead, he designs trenches’ excavation widths from 18 inches (his personal minimum) to 36 inches (the regulations’ maximum).

“A typical, minimum-sized system fails in about five to seven years,” Bassett observes. He knows that from observation of other installers’ jobs. His other personal minimums include:

• A 1,500-gallon dual-compartment treatment tank for a system serving a three-bedroom house with a design flow of 375 gpd.

• 900 square feet of absorption area for that same house (the state minimum is 750 square feet).

• 300 feet more absorption area for each additional bedroom (twice the state minimum).

When faced with multiple suitable and permittable system options, Bassett educates his customers on the pros and cons of each. He keeps systems as simple as possible, for two reasons. First, the fewer components, the less risk of mechanical or performance problems. Second, fewer components mean less operation and maintenance cost. For these reasons, he avoids drip irrigation systems whenever possible.

Bassett saw his “keep it simple” philosophy built into state regulations in 1997, when the rules were changed to require risers on treatment tank access ports to be no more than 12 inches below grade. Ten years later, the requirement was changed again to require all risers be extended to grade. In addition, risers more than 36 inches high must be 30 inches in diameter.

Repair solutions

Bassett has seen his share of malfunctions, especially on minimum-sized systems. He finds many trenches where excavation sidewalls have lost their absorptive capacity.

If the failure is not caused by a mismatch between the site and system, he uses a simple approach to renew and expand the trenches. Immediately next to the original excavation, he digs to the same depth. Then, digging the length of the initial installation, he creates a wider absorption area.

Into the newly excavated area, he adds aggregate only. At the terminal end of the old absorption area, he extends the original system’s length. Along the length of the original absorption area, the effluent moves horizontally through the void spaces to the newly exposed infiltrative surface. The same process occurs where the new aggregate area joins the old “end” of the system.

If the original system used chambers, he removes all soil next to the exposed sides of the chambers, and then adds aggregate. In all cases, he believes the absorptive capacity of the sidewall should be included in system-sizing calculations.

Small, constrained sites require a different approach for both new and repair installations. When nitrogen reduction is required, Bassett turns to the AdvanTex AX-20 system. He also favors that system on sites with shallow bedrock. “In these cases, the higher treatment level is essential,” he says.

Another solution when space alone is the constraining factor is use of the recently approved EZflow artificial aggregate distribution system from Infiltrator Systems Inc. Bassett and POWRA worked for nine years to win New Mexico’s approval for that aggregate alternative.

Sharing knowledge

Bassett was, is and will always be education-focused. “When competing against uneducated installers, I become the knowledgeable customer’s best friend,” he says. When he encounters customers with limited knowledge, he shares his to make them better decision-makers and system users.

Professional installers support installer training to raise everyone’s competency. When New Mexico proposed removing training requirements from the regulations, POWRA stepped up and convinced the state Environmental Improvement Board, a kind of regulator watchdog group, to preserve and strengthen the training requirement.

POWRA also favors a state license for site evaluators, but so far has not been able to gather a strong enough coalition to make it happen. Through all this, Bassett has been at the front of the pack leading the charge, or speaking in formal and informal venues advocating for increased skill and professionalism.

Small and focused

While highly professional, Bassett’s organization is small. The sole employee, Waylen Riley, is Bassett’s all-around helper. Bassett operates the equipment, and the two work each job continuously from start to finish. They get in and get out, but while on site, they are focused on their mission.

Supporting his general excavating business, Bassett can call upon a 2000 430D Cat backhoe or a 1995 John Deere grading tractor for site work. He uses 1985 and 1989 dump trucks and a 2000 International two-axle tractor with trailer to mobilize equipment and haul materials for jobsites. Keeping capital costs down, Bassett rents Cat tracked skid-steers or larger tracked excavators for big jobs. Bassett’s mother, Josephine, helps in the office with paperwork and phone inquiries.

Informed decisions

Bassett initially minimized his service menu and stayed away from onsite system repairs. “I didn’t want to get into people’s sewage problems,” he says. “I believed that was more of a niche or specialty market.”

In the early 1990s he rethought his position and has been doing repairs ever since. Today it accounts for about 30 percent of his onsite business. System management is a growing business segment. Bassett is a licensed treatment plant operator, and his license qualifies him to manage systems up to 10,000 gpd.

The bulk of the systems he manages are cluster systems that serve old villages where small lots and constrained sites rule out individual onsite systems. Typically, these systems include septic tank solids separation, 4-inch gravity collection lines, and either gravity, low-pressure or drip distribution of the treated effluent. ­Education, a commitment to science-based regulations, attention to detail and a commitment to higher standards set Bassett apart in his industry. “Done right” and “dead-on” are the words he lives by, and the only things he leaves behind at every job.