Let’s Take a Longer View on System Performance

Your challenging installation was featured 10 years ago. How’s it doing now?

Recently I was editing a System Profile feature for an upcoming issue and I was impressed once again with the ingenious design and precision installation to place a high-performance onsite system on a challenging site. We often write about septic systems cleverly wedged onto a small building lot, using the latest technology and engineering prowess to overcome poor soils, tight distances to water sources, or seesawing topography.

But as I read, a thought occurred to me: The designers project lofty performance standards for these new systems, but how do we prove the results matched their projections? We really need to return to our featured systems after 10 to 20 years and find out if they lived up to expectations.

The proof is in the pudding — or in the long-term TSS or BOD numbers — you might say.

So with this issue we’re introducing a new feature — System Profile: Looking Back — as a way to revisit challenging system builds to see if they’ve measured up to predicted performance. Writer Scottie Dayton went back 20 years to look at a crisis situation with a system replacement on an oceanfront home in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Turn inside to learn how the project, using a system from Waterloo Biofilter Systems, has stood the test of time.

YOUR STORY HERE

We will continue this occasional feature and look to you for help identifying systems to bring back for a review. Perhaps we profiled one of your installations 10 or more years ago and the results have been gratifying. Maybe you’ve had to tweak the maintenance or develop an interesting upgrade over the years to address changing user demands. Maybe you would do something differently when faced with the same project today.

Whatever the case, we want to hear from you and share your experience with your colleagues in the onsite industry. We can learn from each other.

The projects we follow every month are a testament to the training and skills of those in the onsite industry and an inspiration that designers and installers can routinely make the impossible possible. These problem-solvers regularly get their homeowner and business customers out of a jam by cleaning up a wastewater problem. Sometimes it’s allowing new construction on what was thought to be a substandard lot. Sometimes it’s replacing a failing system on a piece of property where local health department officials feared it couldn’t be done.

When Onsite Installer’s first editor, Ted Rulseh, introduced a magazine dedicated to this dynamic and maturing industry, he talked about a newfound respect for decentralized wastewater coming from the Environmental Protection Agency. By the time the first issue of this magazine was published in 2004, the EPA had recognized that septic systems were part of a permanent solution for wastewater treatment, not just a temporary fix until municipal sewer pipes were laid.

It was a transformational time.

“Contractors who prosper will not be those who merely work cheap but those who build systems that function dependably, protect the quality of life, and enhance the homeowner’s property. The industry will be driven by value and performance — not price,” Rulseh wrote almost 15 years ago. “That is good news. It means, quite simply, that the industry has grown up. Now, onsite designers and installers have a chance to win the respect they deserve for performing an absolutely essential service.”

DEPENDABILITY A KEY

So it’s not only important to look at systems when they go in the ground. It critical that we reflect on how well they serve the needs of users over the long haul. Rulseh hit it on the head when he talked about systems that “function dependably.” By one measure, a septic system is successful if it treats wastewater as designed and protects the environment and the health of its users at the time of install. But longevity of these complex and expensive systems is the true measure of success.

Long-term performance review is an important component of building professionalism in this or any industry. By examining past work, installers can find better ways to approach difficult sites or most effectively employ an ever-growing menu of treatment technologies.

Amazing strides have been made by installers and manufacturers serving the onsite industry. But part of being a true professional is recognizing there is always room for improvement. A constant theme should be striving for better system reliability, efficient use of materials and our precious labor, looking for ways to evolve the service for our customers.

Won’t you share in this opportunity for professional growth?

Consider your project that has been featured in a past System Profile. Has the performance beat your expectations? Through ongoing maintenance, have you learned important lessons to pass along to the installer community? If you answer yes, contact me at editor@onsiteinstaller.com and we can take a fresh look at the project.

Answer the call. As we look back at issues from a decade ago, we’ll choose systems to revisit. If we call on you, please take the time to share your story. Remember, a small time commitment on your part can pay big dividends for all onsite installers. Consider this your contribution to continuing education nationwide.

A BIG THANK-YOU

Thanks in advance for your interest and cooperation in following up on past System Profiles. And, as always, I appreciate your readership and participation in our editorial efforts. 



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