Autonomous sewerage: tips for the device

Imagining a modern residential building without a sewer is almost the same as imagining it without a roof or one of the walls. Sewerage has become so firmly established in people's lives that you rather notice its absence than its presence. But although most city dwellers are more accustomed to centralized sewer systems, where all waste is collected through pipes into collectors and disposed of by the appropriate utilities, this service is not available everywhere. Often the owner of a separate cottage, summer cottage or country house has to take care of the sewage system himself. It is for these cases that various autonomous sewage systems have been developed. Let's try to figure out what types of such systems exist and what are their pros and cons.

Cesspool

The oldest and simplest way to ensure the disposal of faeces. Actually, calling it a "sewage system" can only be a stretch. Even its most modern versions (the so-called powder closets, where the contents of the pit are sprinkled with peat or sawdust from time to time) can meet the needs of only two or three people. In addition, they can be used comfortably only in the warm season: in winter, the contents of the pit freeze, biological decomposition of feces does not occur, the pit quickly overflows. The only advantage of this type of toilets is the simplicity and speed of construction: you can dig a hole and knock down a toilet booth yourself in one or two days.

Dry closet

Everyone is familiar with plastic booths that come across in public places or are temporarily placed right on the streets of cities during the holidays. Exactly the same can be purchased for your summer cottage. However, by and large, this is also not an option: the dry closet requires care, its owner is forced to regularly clean the container and purchase special chemicals for processing. In addition, the owner of such a toilet faces an eternal problem - what to do with the resulting and, frankly, very smelly liquid, because if you just pour it on the ground, it will become impossible to live in the house, and the neighbors are unlikely to thank for such a "service". However, a dry closet can be useful for summer cottages and other houses where people live only temporarily.

Septic tank

This system can already be called with confidence an autonomous sewage system. Its essence is that sewage and fecal waters from sinks, baths and toilets installed in the house are sent by gravity through pipes to a special container, where the water is processed and clarified by bacteria, after which the purified water goes through the filtration layer into the ground. Septic tanks can be either made independently (for a person with minimal construction skills, this is not difficult), or purchased or custom-made in construction firms. By their design, septic tanks are divided into single and multi-chamber, depending on the number of chambers in which wastewater is treated. Single chamber ones are much easier to manufacture, however, they do not provide satisfactory filtration and quickly overflow. Therefore, experts advise making (or ordering) a septic tank, consisting of at least two chambers: the first accumulates waste and fecal water, then through the overflow pipe, the excess liquid enters the second chamber, from which, in fact, it is filtered into the ground or goes into the drainage ditch ... The advantage of this solution is that most of the decay processes takes place in the first chamber, and the second silts up less, and filtration is faster.

Autonomous treatment facilities

However, for all the simplicity and convenience of conventional septic tanks, they also have a major drawback: they are not always environmentally friendly. Seeing through the ground, liquid from septic tanks can reach the aquifer without being completely purified. The consequences are obvious: few people want to use fecal-stinking water to wash or prepare food. In addition, one poorly located septic tank can poison the water intake of several houses. That is why now more and more autonomous sewage systems are used, which in fact are already mini-treatment facilities. They actively move wastewater from one reservoir to another, taking into account the biological characteristics of various types of bacteria. As a result of this, a complete biological treatment takes place, and fecal waste is converted into industrial water (of course, it is undesirable to drink it, but it is already possible to use it for other purposes). However, you have to pay for everything: such systems are not only more expensive than conventional septic tanks, but also require energy to pump liquid from reservoir to reservoir. An additional advantage is that such systems, as a rule, are adapted so that the owner can clean the sludge without calling the sewer truck. The resulting sludge, after rotting for a year in the compost heap, turns into an excellent fertilizer for the garden and vegetable garden.

What should be remembered for the owner of an autonomous sewage system

Whatever the autonomous sewage system, its owner must clearly know the few rules for its use:

• do not block the sewer. This is especially true for those structures where waste flows into the tank of a septic tank or treatment plant by gravity. But even where special pumps for pumping wastewater are provided, you should not confuse a toilet bowl with a garbage container. Remember: everything that gets into the tank and cannot rot will remain there, and a clogged sewer in winter can turn into freezing and rupture of the pipe;
• clean regularly: pumping out sludge from the septic tank, removing the contents of the cesspool. An overfilled container is not only an inconvenience, but also a serious environmental hazard;
• do not use sludge from septic tanks or sewage treatment plants to feed plants. The fact is that human feces are too biologically active, and plants will simply "burn" from excess nitrogen. Use a compost heap: sludge takes at least six months to turn into fertilizer. The only exception can be the contents of the powder closet, where rotting occurs with the participation of aerobic bacteria, however, even there rotted feces should be mixed with soil or peat, if possible.