Resort developer Alan Worden of Scout Capital acquired an ocean-front cottage with 10 acres off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The dilapidated structure on the property was served by a cesspool. Worden’s vision was to create an island retreat with environmentally sound design, materials and interior décor to educate the public and showcase his own development company — but above all, he wanted to protect the island’s fragile ecosystem.
Worden and his designer, engineers and project manager got to work. They started by moving the building site back from the water and focusing on replacing the old cesspool with an Orenco AdvanTex AX20. To treat the wastewater, the technology uses a settling basin followed by passes through AdvanTex’s engineered textile fabric inside a compact, watertight, fiberglass pod. Energy-efficient Biotube effluent pumps percolate the wastewater over the textile in small, even doses for maximum treatment.
For minimal disruption to the sandy site with its high groundwater, installers used a mini-excavator to shallowly bury the AdvanTex system. Concrete “collars” were poured around the tank, treatment pod, and pump basin to keep them firmly in place.
“It’s running great,” says field service manager Dave Mead, who installed the system and tests it regularly. His latest sample showed excellent treatment, with BOD5 of 6 mg/L, TSS of 5 mg/L, and TN of 7.8 mg/L.
In “The Perfect House,” an article describing the Esther’s Island Retreat in Ridgefield Magazine, writer Amanda Bergen described Worden’s new wastewater system this way: “The old cesspool was replaced by an environmentally sensitive, high-tech septic system and leaching field that is designed to prevent nitrogen runoff into the harbor. Worden says after the wastewater has been through the state-of-the-art system, the water is supposedly clean enough to drink* — though he’s in no hurry to test it.”
The rest of the property’s infrastructure, including its 2,400-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom home, is eco-friendly, too. Completely “off-grid,” the retreat gets its power from the wind and the sun, its drinking water from a well, and its landscape irrigation from collected rainwater. In fact, Esther’s Island Retreat has qualified for a LEED Silver rating.
Why did a developer go to these lengths to create such an environmentally sustainable property? As Worden told Bergen: “Consumers want it, permitters demand it, and it can save us money.”
To learn more, visit Orenco.com or call 800-348-9843.
*Not advised by Orenco Systems
