Introducing the Omega Water Recycling System
The extraordinary invention of Omega’s filtration technology enables septic tank and grease trap maintenance operators to pump-out the entire tank, filter the tank water onsite, and return it back into place. This new state-of-the-art system makes the cumbersome and costly traditional practice of hauling away mass quantities of wastewater from homes for dumping obsolete. It further promotes healthier internal conditions of septic tanks for optimum long-term performance. The Omega technology has changed the game for northern operators and their customers with an incomparably cleaner and more cost-effective sewage tank water handling process, and now it’s coming to US customers.
The extraordinary sewage water recirculation and filtration technology is patented by Omega Liquid Waste Solutions, Quebec, Canada. The highly advanced system has been in use by septic service operators throughout the province and greater east-central Canada since it became available in 1998. Tony Vachon, Omega company founder and inventor of the remarkable technology, has led the production of the supremely streamlined, sustainable, comprehensive solution. His Omega Septic and Grease Trap Service Truck with patented wastewater filtration system has made life much easier for Canadian septic tank pumpers and better for their customers.
In light of this advanced technology, the old costly and environmentally undesirable method of simply draining sewage water along with solids from septic tanks makes much less sense than in the past. Just hauling such vast volumes of wastewater away for dumping is no longer viable as a preferred approach. After all, as soon as a septic tank is drained, more sewage water simply fills the tank again very quickly. So, even in the short term, the benefits of just draining the tank for the customer are negligible, virtually zero, and it is a comparatively very expensive exercise to do.
Taking away the tank water comes with a long list of other negative effects in addition to the high cost of collecting, hauling, and disposing of sewage water. For actual benefits to the property residents, it’s a meaningless gesture to drain the septic tank periodically. It’s much more beneficial on all points of service value assessment to filter the existing water and let it remain in place, removing only the solids. The solids are the only relevant contents of the tank in terms of removal to maintain an appropriate balance of flora in the containment.
Benefits of Omega Mobile Sewer Water Filtration
Recirculating septic tank water through the intensive sewage filtration process invented by Vachon, and allowing the water to stay in the tank, results in a wide range of important benefits. Since, about 75% of the content of a septic tank is water and 25% is sludge, an operator can only do a couple of customers’ tanks before having to stop servicing, drive to a disposal site, and then come back to continue servicing tanks. With the new approach, operators have only sludge to transport, no water. That enables the septic maintenance technician to service up to 5 times more customers than the traditional way. In addition to exceptional revenue increases, operating costs are significantly reduced for fuel, truck maintenance and repair, labor hours, dumping fees, administrative expenses, lost new sales, and other expenses.
Further, technician health and safety risks, quality of work life for septic service operators, adverse environmental impact, and other aspects of functioning in the industry are improved. The groundbreaking sewage filtration technology also enhances the short- and long-term performance of customers’ septic systems, saves them money for property maintenance, and helps them do their part in promoting a greener future.
Omega LWS Sewer Water Filtration – How it Works
Tony explains in simple terms the complex functioning of Omega’s patented sewage filtration device, “Conventional pumpers empty grease traps, for example, and transport the debris along with the entire sewage volume to a dump site or treatment plant. Our idea was to leave the wastewater behind. So, the system we’ve developed has a two-compartment vacuum tank.
The back one is a rear water storage tank, the front is a sludge compartment. A remote control operation is in place for pumping solid or liquid, and a piece of clear (transparent) hose enables the operator to see the waste material as it is being pumped. When the operator starts pumping the water, he puts the hose on the septic tank or grease trap. He can see if the material passing through the system is clear or sludge, and then all the water is pumped to the water compartment at the back.
When the operator sees that no water remains in the tank, he can push a sludge button and all sludge will be transitioned to the front. The septic tank will be fully empty at the filtration stage. We then take the water from the water compartment at the back of the truck and pump it, filtered to 100 microns, back into the septic tank. The entire process happens very fast, in only about 5 minutes.”
Even in Omega’s patented filter system, as Tony explains, a big problem is that the grease and fibrous matter in sewage will naturally clog any type of filter, “The difference is that ours spins at 2,300 RPMs. Simultaneously, pulsation from the inside to the outside is initiated to keep the system clean. The filtration process is conducted at close to ultrasound frequency.
The extremely high frequency of the pulsating is very close to the membrane, which has a dislodging effect that prevents clogging. That’s how a vacuum can keep the sewage filtration system, with its very tough stainless steel heavy-duty membrane, so clean. At perforations in the steel of only 100 microns in diameter, the holes are too small to see with the unaided eye. They are laser drilled through ⅛ inch thick stainless steel.
The recirculated tank water becomes very clear, about 99% clear. We have removed all the solids from the water. But, we have preserved all the important bacteria. That’s good for the owner of the septic tank, enabling the tank to maintain its bacterial flora.”
The Traditional Service Model – Emptying Septic Tanks
Omega Marketing Manager, George Bally, observes, “Although there are, of course, regulations imposing standards on the septic services industry, it is astonishing to see how unregulated some key processes continue to be.” He emphasizes that the more operators know about technology to make their jobs easier, their work faster, safer, cheaper, and cleaner, the better value they can provide to property owners.
Educating the industry and the septic system owners about the advanced Omega septic water filtration technology goes a long way to help bring this better approach to US customers nationwide. More and more grease trap and septic tank customers are realizing the multiple major benefits of filtering wastewater and recirculating it back into their trap or tank using the Omega technology, without any negative effect on the performance of their systems.
The entire North American market may be increasingly closer to a time when the traditional way of pumping septic tanks eventually becomes illegal. As government regulators come around to the vast environmental and safety advantages of cleansing vs. hauling such extreme amounts of sewer water, it just makes sense that the more practical way will, at some point, become required.
Patent Holders – Omega Septic Tank Water Filtering System
Tony Vachon is a Chemical Engineer. Looking back, he explains how the Omega invention was born. “I started my career working for a company that imports filtration systems for the pulp and paper industry. In that kind of production, there is a lot of water going into processes and a lot of filtration and self-cleaning systems that involve large quantities of paper fiber, which clog the equipment. When fiber goes through, the system can’t remove it automatically.
My brother had a company in the transportation industry. He brought materials from Quebec to California to start a septic tank service business. Everybody competing in that market had old trucks and old equipment already paid for, so they could cut the price. So, our perspective was on how we could possibly cut the transportation costs.
Septic tanks have a lot of water inside. So, we reasoned, “Why do we have to carry the water?” Every house with a septic tank has a leach field. Therefore, we actually just need to bring the sludge with us. My brother had the idea of cutting the sewage transport time and cost, and with my engineering skills, I decided to create the technology.”
Challenges to US Rollout of Omega Sewer Water Filtering Technology
George emphasizes, “It’s lack of awareness that tends to stand in the way of ready adoption by some people unfamiliar with the technology. For example, a customer’s initial reaction may be that they simply do not want filtration and are firm in wanting a full pump out of their septic tank. In other cases of customers and pumpers alike, there’s a sort of reflex of dismissing something new and saying it can’t work, and some people just hate change, any change.
We’ve found that those who seem firm on sticking with the outmoded method tend to have one thing in common — they’ve never seen or used the more modern equipment and need exposure to the technology and its benefits.”
The quality of the water recirculated back into the tank from the filtration equipment is very high. As new incoming sewage from the home quickly starts mixing in with the filtered water, this creates an internal tank environment full of filtered, bacterially appropriate water, which means achieving zero risk of adverse effects to the tank. When homeowners see how clear and clean the filtered water is that remains in their tank, there’s no more concern about the practical benefits of that. Since there are no equal or greater benefits from draining the tank and hauling the water away, there is no downside to fine-filtering the water and leaving it in place.
Most customers quickly comprehend that the filtered water remaining in their septic tank has been recirculated back into the tank onsite, not brought from another customer’s location. For any who may still insist on a full pump out of their tanks, the pumper can use the Omega filtration truck to haul it all away for them.
Omega Bundle of Advanced Sewage Handling Technologies
Along with the advanced sewage filtration system, the Omega company has brought an array of other new technologies to the North American septic services markets. Their unprecedented service industry essentials include:
Omega Custom Built Vacuum Trucks
Conventional septic and grease trap service vehicles have the traditional tank, blower, and chassis. The Omega vacuum trucks have a two-compartment vacuum tank, chassis, a pulsating filtration system, and an innovative hose reel.
Omega Advanced Septic Service Hose Reel Technology
With the Omega remote-controlled hose reel, operators can just hit the button to run it. As septic tanks are up to 300 feet from the pumper truck, and extension hoses are heavy and time-consuming to connect, this is a big work-saver.
Omega Grease Trap Technology
The OMEGA SG™ Septic and Grease and OMEGA SC™ Sewer Cleaner Filter Series are advanced mechanical filters for separating liquids from solids. They use patented Omega self-cleaning technology to prevent clogging in high-grease applications.
Omega Wastewater Filtering Technology
The Omega wastewater filtration system offers a truly revolutionary sewage water cleansing process that transforms septic tank contents in the range of 170 to 215 gpm (640 to 800 L/min). It is a continuously self-cleaning unit with 100 to 500 microns for absolute filtration.
Omega LWS Filter System Intro Video on Facebook
The Omega introduction video highlights the company’s collaborations with the University of Massachusetts and the University of North Carolina. The video introduction of the filtration technology demonstrates the process of wastewater recirculation from and back into the septic tank, and how the superior benefits of the system for the overall long-term condition of the tank and grease trap are validated.
Omega Liquid Waste Solutions, Quebec, Canada
As Tony Vachon and George Bally point out, the Omega technology “is not really a new kid on the block.” Many septic service operators have been using this method in Canada for a long time, and up to 15% of Omega’s sales of the technology are already to US operators. The Omega filtration system and vacuum truck combination is the technology used by VACTOR North America exclusively in their next-gen sewer cleaners. About 5% of Omega’s customers are in Europe and another 2% in Asia. These percentages are across all their products, including the patented filtration system, hose reel innovation, and customized septic tank and grease trap vacuum service trucks.
A passion for innovation drives the Omega design team to continue developing improved equipment and systems for septic and grease trap maintenance operators and their customers to increase service quality and reduce costs. The company’s leadership team explains that the growth the company has realized in the US over the past few years has encouraged them to embark on a mission to work more extensively with the pumpers in the United States.
For more information about Omega LWS, Quebec, Canada, and their patented onsite septic tank water filtration system or other advanced septic services equipment, call (418) 741-4444, or visit the Omega LWS website.