greywater data for remote hut sites?

[Zoe Rogers]

Hi everyone,
has anyone collected, or found, data on greywater quality at camping sites supplied by tank water? anywhere in the world (I am in Australia - doing a design for a new wilderness trek in Tasmania).
by greywater I mean the highly concentrated (1-3L/person/day) dishwashing/handwashing wastes. trek sites without showers etc.

thanking you,
Zoe

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Roger Robinson]

Hi Zoe,

 

You might try connecting with Karen Rollins: beeshive@telus.net  of Backcountry Energy Backcountry Solutions:  http://www.beeshive.org/

 

They have done backcountry greywater research which might help with your design work. 

 

She is a member of our Goggle Group too.

 

Hope this helps,

Roger

 

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[Karen Rollins]

Zoe,

A simple grease trap and a sand and gravel dispersion field is what the Alpine Club of Canada uses at its alpine huts. The Bow Hut sees over 3000 overnights per year summer and winter. It handles kitchen wastewater only - no showers. The grey water dispersion field at the Bow Hut was put in 25 years ago and is still functioning well. Sand is amazingly effective. Sand filtration has been used worldwide for many decades as a treatment method for potable water (removes 97% microorganisms). For grey water, sand filtration is a great low tech solution. It controls odours, does not attract wildlife, and prevents contamination of ground and surface waters.

Go to the BEES website at www.beeshive.org and look under ‘Technology'. Also take a look at BEES Best Environmental Practices document under ‘Projects'. 

Let me know if you have any questions. BEES is not for profit and I would be happy to help you sort out a solution. 

Karen

BEES Project Director

Karen Rollins

BEES Project Director
bees...@telus.net
www.beeshive.org

[Zoe Rogers]

thanks Karen,

sand filter is my preferred option but the client plans to fly the modular filters in ready assembled, under 800kg per flight - so sand is prohibitively weighty. I'm going for a foam cube filter option instead (like a Waterloo biofilter), but have no data on the BOD loads from greywater at sites like these - was wondering if you could help out with the data, if you've collected or come across any, particularly for BOD and TSS. I'm working on around 350mg/L BOD for the design.

cheers,
Zoe

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[Tom Hopkins]

Hi Zoe,

 

We have some experience with foam block filters at a couple of backcountry sites in Kahurangi National Park in the South Island of New Zealand. These two filters receive both grey and blackwater from backcountry huts. See photo attached.  I’m not able to easily lay my hands on the results from tests carried out after their installation but their performance was reportedly good – not quite to secondary treatment level but my impression was that they could achieve the performance standard you note below.

 

However, I understand that the foam blocks do compress over time reducing their performance and requiring their replacement. I think the blocks in the systems above have been replaced at least once since the systems were installed in 2003.

 

More recent installations in the northern South Island have used peat as a media, heavier than foam but lighter than sand. Again the performance of this as a media is reportedly very good – I don’t have tests from these installations but I’m told they have been known to achieve results of <5mg/L BOD. Apparently Bob Patterson of Lanfax Labs and Phillip Geary at University of New South Wales have done some work in this area.

 

Hope that’s of some help.

 

Regards,

 

Tom

Tom Hopkins

Senior Works Officer - Āpiha Matua

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From: managing-human-w...@googlegroups.com [mailto:managing-human-w...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Zoe Rogers
Sent: Tuesday, 10 June 2014 12:14 p.m.
To: managing-human-w...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Managing Human Waste in the Wild] greywater data for remote hut sites?

 

thanks Karen,

sand filter is my preferred option but the client plans to fly the modular filters in ready assembled, under 800kg per flight - so sand is prohibitively weighty. I'm going for a foam cube filter option instead (like a Waterloo biofilter), but have no data on the BOD loads from greywater at sites like these - was wondering if you could help out with the data, if you've collected or come across any, particularly for BOD and TSS. I'm working on around 350mg/L BOD for the design.

cheers,
Zoe

On 5 June 2014 02:15, Karen Rollins <bees...@telus.net> wrote:

Zoe,

 

A simple grease trap and a sand and gravel dispersion field is what the Alpine Club of Canada uses at its alpine huts. The Bow Hut sees over 3000 overnights per year summer and winter. It handles kitchen wastewater only - no showers. The grey water dispersion field at the Bow Hut was put in 25 years ago and is still functioning well. Sand is amazingly effective. Sand filtration has been used worldwide for many decades as a treatment method for potable water (removes 97% microorganisms). For grey water, sand filtration is a great low tech solution. It controls odours, does not attract wildlife, and prevents contamination of ground and surface waters.

 

Go to the BEES website at www.beeshive.org and look under ‘Technology'. Also take a look at BEES Best Environmental Practices document under ‘Projects'. 

 

Let me know if you have any questions. BEES is not for profit and I would be happy to help you sort out a solution. 

 

Karen

BEES Project Director

On Jun 3, 2014, at 5:36 PM, Roger Robinson <mhw....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Zoe,

 

You might try connecting with Karen Rollins: bees...@telus.net  of Backcountry Energy Backcountry Solutions:  http://www.beeshive.org/

 

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[Karen Rollins]

Zoe,

Here is a link to a document that reviews different wastewater treatment systems. Take a look at chapter 6 which describes various types of biofilters such as sand, glass, wood chips, light weight aggregate, peat, and synthetic materials such as foam. It discusses the Waterloo biofilter on page 6-46: 90-95% removal of BOD5, 90-95% removal of TSS, and 20-40% removal of TN. The document also includes advantages and disadvantages of each method and references for more information.

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/sandiego/water_issues/programs/wine_country/docs/updates081910/owts_review.pdf

Let me know if this helps.

Karen

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