Septic Tank That Waters Your Lawn Coming to California
I’m a huge proponent of using recycled wastewater, so I’m happy to hear that Biokube is bringing its lawn-watering septic system to California. And since the average American home uses a mind-boggling 15,000 gallons of water a year on lawns, the system is sorely needed.
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Normal septic systems allow solids to settle down with gravity. The water enters a tank with bacteria to clean it and it is then released into a leaching field for bacteria to clean it even further.
The Venus method is both more thorough and less complex. The system cleans waste water by having it pass through numerous bioblocks (membranes housing bacteria). Afterward, no further filtering is necessary.
According to Patrick O’Regan, the head of Biokube’s US Business Development Center, the six foot tall Venus tank can handle 7.5 liters of water every 15 minutes.
While a lawn-watering septic tank may not be the sexiest green innovation, it highlights an important point: we can drastically reduce our water consumption once we come to the realization that our lawns, toilets, and gardens don’t need to use the same fresh water that we drink.
Photo Credit: Greentech Media
is this system certified to the ANSI/NSF Standard 40 (class-1 treatment unit) or to the Nitrogen reduction ANSI/NSF Standard 245???
Any idea how much this thing will cost? And what happens to the waste solids? Do those still remain in the leach field?
The Biokube is not a septic tank but is a full sewage treatment system. The water that comes out is 20 times cleaner than septic tank effluent, but here in the UK, it is still illegal to use it in garden sprinklers as it still contains viruses and bacteria which are dangerous via skin contact or inhalation.
Underground irrigation is fine.
The solids remain in the tank for regular removal (annual or less) by tanker.