Fixing Failures

Being a good resource for customers means knowing all the tools available for analyzing and restoring failing soil treatment areas

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I think we would all agree that this economy is affecting everyone. I missed the Great Depression, but I am reminded of it by my mother-in-law, Rosemarie, every time I get frustrated with some turn-of-the-century appliance that she wants to fix – again.

“Just buy a new one,” I say. To which she replies, “You didn’t live through the Depression, son.” We are not in the same financial situation as during the 1930s, but it has gotten scary enough to get a lot of people thinking just like Rosemarie. This is especially true when it comes to making a choice of replacing or fixing a failing lateral field.

 

Steps forward

Several things in the past 15 years have influenced the cost and effectiveness of lateral fields. It is true that many of our new products and techniques have given the soil a much better chance of safely returning our wastewater to the hydrologic cycle and extending the life of the lateral field or soil treatment area indefinitely.

It is also true that this huge step forward comes with a cost. And that cost has many people with failing lateral fields looking at less expensive solutions than total replacement.

With demand comes supply. As a market develops, so do the suppliers to fulfill the demand. When the demand causes the suppliers to grow rapidly, we need to remember the legal doctrine, caveat emptor, or “buyer beware.”

When considering the repair of a failing lateral field, it is important to do your due diligence to ensure that you are making correct decisions.

Most lateral field failures result in surfacing or ponding of effluent on the surface. This occurs when the application rate is greater than the infiltration rate through the clogging mat into the soil. Several products have been developed to deal with these failures. Methods available today include adding hydrogen peroxide, using enzyme additives, applying aerobic remediation, injecting high-pressure air next to and beneath the clogging mat, immediately followed by forcing small-diameter beads into the fissures.

 

Thinking carefully

Determining the best fix for any failing soil treatment area requires turning over all the stones you normally would when preparing to spend large sums of money. It’s important to remember that there is a difference between research findings and sales material.

Some of the most comprehensive research work covering this issue to date is the 1997 Converse & Tyler paper, “Aerobically Treated Effluent for Renovating Failing Absorption Units.” This study evaluated the feasibility of using aerobically treated effluent to renovate failing soil treatment areas that had failed due to the development of a clogging mat that restricted infiltration rate. Failure was defined as sewage backing up into the home, breaking out onto the ground surface, or ponding.

The authors evaluated 35 units over three years. Thirty of the soil treatment areas were renovated. The authors state in their conclusion that “renovating failing soil absorption units by introducing aerobically treated effluent appears feasible and should be investigated as a means of continuing the use of the existing soil absorption units.”

 

More tools to use

More than one company has done exactly what Converse & Tyler suggested by investigating and developing a product that is marketed and sold expressly for remediating failing lateral fields.

The results of the study and the research done by these companies would suggest that by introducing aerobically treated effluent to the soil treatment area, you would also introduce aerobic bacteria in an effluent rich in dissolved oxygen, where the only thing missing to satisfy the bacteria is a food source.

The food source becomes the biomat that has formed on the trench bottom and walls. Once the bacteria consume this food, effluent can again access the infiltrative area, and percolation resumes.

As an installation contractor or service provider, you can use this information and these new products as tools when analyzing a failing system. This is a fast-moving industry that needs knowledgeable and professional contractors to answer. It is clear to see that this economy is pushing business in the direction of the most informed and educated contractors.

 

About the author

Tom Fritts is vice president of NOWRA and co-owner of Residential Sewage Treatment Co. in Grandview, Mo.



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