Stony Brook University will use $2 million in state funding as seed money to establish a program in Suffolk County (Long Island) to develop and commercialize technology to remove nitrogen from septic system and cesspool effluent (many of the septic systems utilize a cesspool). With a population of 1.5 million people, about 70 percent of homes in the county – more than 360,000 – use onsite wastewater systems. Suffolk County is also conducting a lottery to give away 19 onsite systems, including five years of monitoring and maintenance.

Idaho

Several changes are planned in the next revision of onsite wastewater regulations by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. According to a public notice, DEQ is considering changes to address “septic tank maintenance techniques, septic tank approval and approval transfer procedures, extra drain rock drainfields, incinerator toilets, intermittent sand filters, steep-slope systems, septic tank and dosing chamber installation, and extended treatment package systems.” The changes, it says, are designed to ensure the technical guidance manual reflects current public health standards.

British Columbia, Canada

The 46,000-square-mile Peace River Regional District is planning to build three septage receiving stations to serve rural residents and work camps. The City of Dawson Creek recently approved a $3.5 million trucked-waste facility for its municipal wastewater treatment plant.

Unlike an existing transfer station in Dawson Creek, the new one will be staffed and will include sensors to detect hazardous materials. Contractors have been caught several times trying to dispose of diesel and fracking chemicals at the unmanned transfer station, according to Alaska Highway News. The City of Fort St. John recently announced it was closing its septage facility at the end of 2014 because several illegal dumping cases threatened the city’s treatment system.

“The issue of waste disposal has become increasingly fraught in recent years, in part because new federal laws expose cities to more liability should waterways be contaminated with sewage,” reports the newspaper.