USU awarded for wastewater treatment
The Utah State University’s Utah on-site Wastewater Treatment Training Program won an award granted to the institutions that made a considerable contribution to the environment outside of the Utah Environmental Health Association.
The Lynn Thatcher Award ceremony was in October at the Educational Conference in Layton. Judy Sims, research associate professor and coordinator at the training program, said most people think sewer pipes should be everywhere, but they are expensive and are difficult to install in some places. The on-site wastewater system treats the water used in each household and returns the clean water to the soil, she said.
The on-site system does the same as a centralized treatment plants for the cities in small towns or farms, she said. According to the Utah on-site Wastewater Treatment Training Program Web site 30 to 60 percent of the households in the 12 local heath departments in the state use the on-site system.
According to the press release by the Public Relations and Marketing Office at USU, each year 1,600 new systems are installed in addition to the more than 70,000 already existent.
Also according to the press release, more than 10 percent of the population of Utah uses the on-site system. The on-site training program started in 1998 and since then has been providing workshops and training to “health department staff, site evaluators, general contractors, engineers, systems designers and others,” according to the press release.
Sims said the system works with gravity. Everything that is heavier than water goes to the bottom of the septic tank and forms a slough. Everything that is lighter goes to the top and forms scum, she said.
The water is still very contaminated but it goes to the soil and the microorganisms do a biological treatment.
“What we flush out of our house they consider lunch,” Sims said.
Sims said the award is good for the training program because it helps people realize that it’s being done. She also said the program is trying to extend the on-site system to Idaho and Wyoming and the award can help persuade people that the system really works.
The on-site system is beneficial because it helps maintain the sustainability of the ground water, a very important topic in Utah, especially in the drought, Sims said.
Members of local health departments in the state are part of the Utah Environmental Health Association and work with the on-site center to make sure all parts of the project go right. Little details can ruin the on-site system and the partnership can help avoid those small issues, Sims said. To function perfectly, the on-site system has to be in correct soil and place and be maintained correctly. So, to make sure the water will be treated appropriately, the on-site center has to be sure everybody does his or her part right, she said.
The local health departments also have to work with homeowners to increase awareness that they can’t flush everything they want down the toilet, otherwise it will ruin the system, she said. Homeowners also have to pump the septic tank periodically and realize they can have a certain amount of wastewater a day, Sims said.
“They can’t do all laundry on Saturday, for example, or they will flood the system,” she said.
The Huntsman on-site Wastewater Treatment and Demonstration Site is a prototype of the systems installed in the state and it’s built on 2 acres in the university’s property.
The Huntsman demonstration site is used to teach the workshops and the field training.
-acantunes@cc.usu.edu