Water conservation, beneficial reuse — frequently heard buzzwords in the wastewater industry today — are becoming more important due to not only droughts and water shortages, but also a lack of economical small-scale treatment options.

Norweco’s Singulair R3 residential treatment system provides simple treatment in a small footprint for domestic water and residential applications and ecologically sensitive areas. In short, the unit gives homeowners a new level of water conservation, as the system’s high-quality effluent can be utilized in nonpotable reuse applications.

“The Singulair R3 system reduces water consumption, reuses treated effluent, and recycles water for indoor or outdoor use to conserve and recharge our resources,” says Annette Simon, sales and marketing coordinator for Norweco. “The treatment system — an extended aeration process with nonmechanical flow equalization, pretreatment of the influent, attached growth filtration and disinfection of the final effluent — provides primary, secondary and tertiary treatment of wastewater flow with polishing and ultraviolet disinfection prior to discharge.”

Using a five-stage treatment system, wastewater flows through pretreatment, aeration and final clarification chambers, a hydrokinetic biofilm reactor and an AT 1500 ultraviolet disinfection system. Domestic wastewater is preconditioned and flow-equalized in the pretreatment chamber. The outlet is equipped with a discharge tee extending vertically so only preconditioned, equalized flow is displaced to extended aeration, providing in excess of 24-hour retention of daily flow.

Performance exceeds the effluent requirements of NSF/ANSI Standards 40, 245 and 350, according to Simon. She explains that during the NSF/ANSI Standard 350 test, the Singulair R3 system produced effluent results of 5.0 mg/L CBOD, 4.6 mg/L TSS, 2.3 NTU turbidity and 2 MPN/100 mL E. coli. “The Singulair R3 system simultaneously met all requirements of NSF/ANSI Standard 245 by reducing total nitrogen by 65% to an average of 14.4 mg/L,” she says.

The system is also LEED certified and qualified for green building credits under the National Association of Home Builders’ ICC 700 National Green Building Standard.

“It can be used for any applications that require a system certified to NSF/ANSI Standards 40, 245 and 350, and it reduces any footprint. The research and development was a rigorous process conducted by an independent, third-party certification body accredited by the American National Standards Institute to verify the performance of wastewater treatment systems,” Simon says. “The system is ideal for applications where water reuse is encouraged to conserve and recharge our water resources.” 800-667-9326; www.norweco.com.