Finding a good septage disposal option is a big problem for many septic pumping operators who are bogged down in logistical and regulatory challenges, high fees, and other associated costs. Local and state laws cause constant administrative headaches for many regional septic service providers. High dumping costs and strict prohibitions add to the pain for many others. Here, we’ll look at the most common and less often employed solutions that septic business owners adopt to overcome these obstacles.
Types of Septage and Treatment
Your septic business may handle domestic, commercial, or industrial septage. If the septage contains toxic constituents or heavy metals, it requires specialized methods of handling, treating, and disposing of it. According to the EPA, some commercial septage can be sufficiently treated along with domestic septage but must be evaluated to determine the acceptability of doing so, to protect public health and safety.
Of course, domestic septage is an important agricultural resource, containing rich soil-conditioning nutrients that help cut dependency on harmful chemical fertilizers. The best domestic septage management leverages strategies that maximize the capture of this significant benefit.
Dedicating Land for Off-Loading
The application of septage to land is, per the EPA, today’s most common approach to its disposal nationwide. The agency estimates that it is also probably the most economical option. However, acquiring land that is located far enough from residential use to buffer against odor can be too difficult to find in many major cities or their suburbs.
But, numerous septic businesses, depending on their locations, may save substantially on the costs of septage disposal by opting to obtain their own space for domestic septage disposal on agricultural land. (State and local restrictions may apply that prohibit off-loading during rain, for example, to prevent runaway septage.)
By adding a number of holding tanks for staging bigger jobs, reportedly, at least one large septage disposal operator in Texas has minimized the number of trips and stops for unloading and is more productive than when drivers were returning to base much more frequently.
Building Your Own Containment Facility
This idea may sound ambitious, and it is. But, at least one sewer service owner on the Missouri side of outer St. Louis metro went all the way, investing in his own disposal facility. The operator built a one-acre lagoon, 15 feet deep, for wastewater disposal on a farm owned by his company. Reportedly, it’s the first such owner-operated disposal lagoon of its kind in the state.
The septic company owner reportedly said he determined that the development expense was worth the time savings, overall. The huge lagoon provides abundant capacity for the business’s septage dumping. Evaporation naturally eliminates much of the water, and the company uses the sludge to condition its farm soil during appropriate weather. A local farmer plants and harvests crops on the farm, like corn, soybeans, and hay, creating an ideally-rounded and self-contained system for the use of natural resources.
Septage Disposal at Public Treatment Facilities
Per the EPA, most public wastewater treatment plants can accommodate incoming material from upstream manholes, sludge transfer processes, and some septage. This is although the receipt of septage in this way is not typically planned into the capacitation of such facilities. Managing the regular receipt of volumes of septage at such plants must be a carefully weighed consideration in the planning of the centralized waste treatment operations.
Shifting to Different Service Areas
In cases of rigid municipal, county, and/or state waste disposal regulations, a creative alternative solution to septage disposal challenges might be found by rethinking the area of operations. Some governments only permit septage to be dumped that was collected within their city’s or county’s geographical boundaries. That can cause overwhelming compliance issues that can seize up routines for pumper truck operators. It can involve constantly going to local agency offices to file paperwork and pay required fees and driving impractical distances to off-loading locations.
One Nashville TN operator reportedly did some research to find a city within his chosen service region that would accept septage from anywhere. But, it was over two hours away and charged hundreds of dollars per load. Still, he was already paying collectively exorbitant annual permit renewal fees and fuel costs.
He calculated that he would actually save enough to make sense of committing to the long-distance drive. So, he stopped running everywhere in the region for permits and simplified his system with one periodic longer drive.
He further made the natural next step to shift his operating area mostly to serving customers in the county where his newly chosen centralized permitting and septage dumping facilities were located. (For an utterly optimized system, he reportedly now does all his dumping on Sundays — when there’s no line at the facility.)
Solving the Tough Challenges of Septage Disposal
There are various ways to off-load septage routinely with increased convenience and reduced costs in travel time and money. Septage receiving facilities, both public and private, throughout the country are the first point of transfer from pumper trucks to full-scale liquid waste processing facilities.
Having some form of self-owned septage receiving capacity, as discussed above, may enable operators to contribute to wastewater processing as the first line of human and environmental protection. It can also provide an added revenue channel for independent operators and public wastewater treatment organizations alike.
More generally speaking, for possible solutions to septage disposal and receiving issues, research the most practical long-term options in your area for your operations size and plans for scaling. Weigh the pros and cons of each, convenience vs. cost, and determine your best approach to ensuring mutual long-term benefits for your customers, your company, and your community.