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Small Flows Quarterly J U R I E D A R T I C L E Papers are now being accepted for the juried article section of the Small Flows Quarterly, the only magazine/journal devoted to onsite and small community wastewater issues (i.e., communities with populations less than 10,000 or communities handling fewer than one million gallons of wastewater flows per day). For additional information about the Small Flows Quarterly, manuscript submission guidelines and publication deadlines, please contact Cathleen Falvey at cfalvey@wvu.edu, or phone (800) 624-8301, ext. 5526, or write to Editor, Small Flows Quarterly, National Environmental Services Center, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6064, Morgantown, WV 26506-6064. Small Flows Quarterly, Fall 2004, Volume 5, Number 4 The National Environmental Services Center (NESC) is looking for qualified contractors who are interested in working with our organization to meet the increasing environmental needs of our nation’s small communities. NESC continuously uses external professionals as a means of leveraging resources to meet demands. Thus, NESC is seeking to expand its pool of experts willing to perform contracted, fee-forservice work in support of our missions. NESC’s programs address a broad range of environmental issues including wastewater, drinking water, solid waste, and environmental training and management. Our programs are national in scope and include such recognized names as the National Small Flows Clearinghouse, the National Drinking Water Clearinghouse, the National Environmental Training Center for Small Communities, and the National Onsite Demonstration Projects. Our target audiences and customers include environmental professionals, local officials, treatment system operators, regulators, and consultants working in and with small communities. To ensure that you are given consideration for NESC’s future contract needs, you must participate in the Request for Qualification process (even if you have performed services for us in the past). We invite you to do so at this time. The process is easy. Just go to our web site www.nesc.wvu.edu/nesc/nescrfq.html and follow the instructions. By investing only a few minutes, you enter our pool of qualified experts. We will maintain this information confidentially and use it to identify prospective vendors as contractual needs arise. Please act now so that we receive your information as soon as possible. 50
Q U E S T I O N & A N S W E R Roof Drains and Septic Systems The local sanitarian said I couldn’t tie my roof drains into my septic system? Why not? It’s just getting rid of rain water, so what would it hurt? NESC ENGINEERING SCIENTIST Edward Winant, Ph.D., P.E. Editor’s Note: This column is based on calls received over the National Environmental Services Center (NESC) technical assistance hotline. If you have further questions concerning roof drains, call (800) 624- 8301 or (304) 293-4191 and ask to speak with a technical assistant. our septic system is designed to treat the wastewater generated by your residence. Treatment means protecting public health and the environment. The size of your septic system is dictated by the amount of wastewater that needs to be treated and dispersed into the environment on a daily basis. The most important number here is the soil loading rate, which is a property of the soil in your yard. The loading rate, given in terms of gallons per square foot per day, says how much water can be spread out over your yard and be treated without backing up and creating a mess. Once this is determined by a site evaluation (a percolation test or soil assessment) the design flow is determined by the size of your house. It is an accepted engineering number that people use a certain amount of water each day. Usually this amount is agreed to be around 70 gallons a day. So if three people live in your house, the design flow would be 210 gallons a day. If seven people live there, it would be 490 gallons a day. Systems are not designed, however, based on who lives there, but on how many could live there, if you were to sell the house. So a fourbedroom house could support eight people or 560 gallons per day. A three-bedroom home could house six people or 420 gallons a day. The number of bathrooms is not that important. Six people using one bath- room, while crowded, would still generate 420 gallons a day. One person living in a home with four bathrooms would still probably only use 70 gallons a day. Now, if you divide the design flow by the soil loading rate, you arrive at the size your drainfield needs to be. Now you want to run additional rainwater into the system. While it may not be contaminated like your sewage, it will still increase the hydraulic load on your drainfield and would cause slower acceptance of the water and thus lead to backups. The other issue is that the septic tank is designed to hold the sewage for at least a day to allow solids to settle out. Now, a 1,000-gallon tank is plenty big enough to hold 420 gallons a day (if that’s your design flow) when it is new. But as solids settle out and sludge accumulates, you have less space in the tank to hold water. Thus the less water you use, the more time it has to sit in the tank and let the solids settle to the bottom. So taking shorter showers would certainly help, but more to the point, keeping unnecessary water out of the tank, like your roof drains, is an important aspect. Along the lines of water use, it is better for your onsite system to spread your laundry out over the week rather than doing five or six loads all on one day. Small Flows Quarterly, Fall 2004, Volume 5, Number 4 51
Page 2 and 3: Helping America’s Small Communiti
Page 4 and 5: 2004-05 STATE ONSITE REGULATORS/ GO
Page 6 and 7: N E W S & N O T E S New York Govern
Page 8 and 9: N E W S & N O T E S New Guide Asses
Page 10 and 11: N E W S & N O T E S EMS Resource Ce
Page 12 and 13: Small Flows Quarterly, Fall 2004, V
Page 14 and 15: R E G U L A T I O N S S E C T I O N
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Page 20 and 21: CONTRIBUTING WRITER Elizabeth Dietz
Page 22 and 23: L E G A L V I E W S cute and collec
Page 26 and 27: NESC NSFC STAFF WRITER Caigan McKen
Page 28 and 29: Wetland Water Garden is for landsca
Page 30 and 31: NESC STAFF WRITER Caigan McKenzie S
Page 32 and 33: The Cycle of Life: Wastewater Recla
Page 34 and 35: FIGURE 1 Schematic of Shearer’s S
Page 36 and 37: Cost and Affordability of Phosphoru
Page 38 and 39: J U R I E D A R T I C L E FIGURE 1
Page 40 and 41: TABLE 1 Wastewater Treatment Plant
Page 42 and 43: TABLE 3 Annual Expense for Phosphor
Page 44 and 45: J U R I E D A R T I C L E Small Flo
Page 46 and 47: TABLE 5 Effect on Stephenville WWTP
Page 48 and 49: J U R I E D A R T I C L E Small Flo
Page 52 and 53: Please note that shipping charges a
Page 54 and 55: The National Environmental Services
Page 56 and 57: Products List Small Flows Quarterly
Page 58 and 59: Products List All Products 25% OFF
Page 60 and 61: Products List Small Flows Quarterly
Page 62 and 63: C L O S I N G T H O U G H T S Small
Page 64: Crivitz, Wisconsin The village of C

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