Commercial On-site Wastewater Management
On-site wastewater management for a mushroom grower in a rural area
Brief: Design an on-site sewage management system (OSMS) to treat and dispose wastewater from a rural mushroom grower based at Londonderry. Total number of 100 part time and full time staff work shift work at the site seven days a week.
Problem: The existing absorption trenches were failing. Raw untreated wastewater was flowing to the surface posing both a human health and environmental risk.
Challenge: Limited areas were available for effluent disposal and the soil permeability was very low. Earthwise Environmental (EE) needed to design a suitable OSMS which could treat and dispose the estimated daily wastewater flows plus ensure that NSW Health and legislative requirements were met.
Action: Earthwise Environmental (EE) undertook a site and soil investigation to identify site and soil limitations and find a suitable effluent disposal area (EDA).
Outcome: EE worked with the client and wastewater treatment system manufacturer to build a custom advanced Aerated Wastewater Treatment System (AWTS). Due to the limited area available, it was decided that shallow subsurface irrigation would be the best method of wastewater disposal, plus the advance AWTS enabled a reduced nutrient uptake area.