Six homes in a subdivision along the shore of the Bull Shoals peninsula in north-central Arkansas had individual septic tank effluent pump systems pumping to a 1970s gravel filter bed. The system, operating under an Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality permit, surface-discharged to the lake, which had consistent nitrogen and phosphorous exceedances.  

The Army Corps of Engineers maintains the dam and area around the lake. It also leased the land for the filter bed, but the Corps wanted to terminate the lease. Relocating it was the responsibility of the subdivision owner-developer. Furthermore, the Corps’ revised shoreline management plan banned surface discharge. 

The owner hired Harbor Environmental and Safety to design the 1,215-gpd drainfield on the allotted half-acre site. David Meints, owner of MEINCO Wastewater Services in Alexander, installed the tanks and a 5,496-square-foot dripfield in June 2018. 

“Once I had the plan, I laid out the dripfield to ensure everything fit,” Meints says. “The footprint was extremely tight and contoured.”

Effluent from the STEP systems splits evenly between two adjacent Orenco Systems AdvanTex AX25-RT units encircled by the dripfield. From the treatment units, effluent gravity-flows 100 feet to a 1,500-gallon fiberglass dose tank set beyond the edge of the field. Every 30 minutes, alternating duplex PF300712 high head effluent pumps (Orenco) send 28.8 gallons to the headworks box that pressurizes 2,748 feet of 0.50 gph drip tubing (box, tubing and control panel from Geoflow). A 2-inch SDR 26 PVC pipe drains water back to the dose tank.

After the weeklong installation, Meints brought the system online. He closed the two valves in the headworks box and pressurized the lines to 30 psi with a flow rate of 14.4 gpm. Although the service contract went to another bidder, Meints returned three months later to check on the system. “Everything was working. It was really cool,” he says.