What are they and why are they important?

As the world’s population increases along with the concern about the safety of our fresh water sources and public health in general, advanced onsite wastewater treatment technologies are becoming viable options for safe treatment and disposal of sewage from homes, cottages and industrial establishments.  Traditional septic tanks do little more than separate solids and liquids and allow external disposal systems such as fields, mounds and lagoons to digest and filter potentially harmful bacteria.  Advanced treatment systems move the treatment of effluent from the ground into a tank using bacterial filtration to break down the harmful parts of effluent, leaving the earth to do less work and lessening the risk of fresh water contamination.

The technology used in an advanced treatment system is very similar to those found in municipal water treatment plants.  Air is introduced to the system to create an oxygen rich environment where friendly aerobic bacteria can do their work digesting solids and cleaning wastewater.  The resulting effluent is cleaner, less dangerous and easier to digest for sub-surface disposal systems.

No home or business owner wants to spend a lot of time thinking about a septic system. They simply want it to work safely and effectively, without causing trouble for their property or the environment.  When a wastewater system fails, conventional solutions are often expensive, time-consuming and disruptive. Issues like space constraints and leach field complications mean that sometimes finding a viable replacement can be nearly impossible.

Polywest distributes two different types of advanced sewage treatment systems.  While our two systems vary in their approach to treating effluent, both are robust and certified NSF Standard 40.