Immediate ban on new cesspools in Puna?

[Obie]

In Hawaii the installer builds an absorption field.The engineer specifies the material used because having the effluent drain too fast is a bad thing.

[Obie]

quote:

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Originally posted by AlohaDave

Point taken, I'll put one in the shipping container I send over with all my "stuff" and fill it with clothes

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Not sure if this is a good idea or not.The tank has to be approved by the state of Hawaii and has to be one that your engineer is familiar with .

[MarkP]

My understanding is that it's all about giving the bacteria that treat the wastewater a place to live that meets their needs (lots of surface area in an aerobic environment) and arranging for the wastewater to trickle slowly past so the bacteria can do their job. The solids are just organic matter and aren't really any worse than the liquid wastewater but they would clog the rest of the system unless dealt with. The septic tank neatly does a couple of jobs. It captures solids so they don't clog the leach field, and it slows down the pulses of wastewater so the leach field sees more of a steady trickle, which allows the bacteria to work on the wastewater better.

Because of the porosity of the soil here cesspools can last indefinitely without maintenance. Solid waste eventually breaks down to almost nothing. Compared to a properly designed septic system though there is almost no opportunity for the wastewater to be treated aerobically before descending towards the water table. Leach fields are only a couple of feet below grade and are designed to be aerobic with tons of surface area and the wastewater trickles slowly past in a carefully metered fashion. Cesspools are at least 10 feet deep to start with and if they happen to intersect with a big crack the wastewater could be hundreds of feet down in minutes. They function as more of an injection well than a treatment system.

[Guest]

This new cesspool ban is a blessing for sensitive areas like kapoho, they have mysterious death episodes all to often,jmo.

http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-ne...-neighbors

[Tink]

On the legality of the tank being approved by the State, all one would have to provide is the tank manufacturers documents to match to the State Health Department (808-933-0401) approval method by model number of tank to their list. It may be as simple as their requirement be something like "holding tank shall be a "listed and approved" pre-manufactured vessel ". With that, all one would need is either a "UPC listed and approved", or IAPMO label on the tank and good to go on that part. As far as Septic Engineers using your tank would be a bit more complex as you would have to pre contact them to work a deal.

Edit to update-- if SHD states only the chemtainer tank is approved at this time it is cheaper to buy here by 500 bucks or so minus your shipping cost.

Community begins with Aloha

[terracore]

"Baker's Yeast has been used for years to speed digestion in septic systems. I would assume it would work the same in Cesspools."

There won't be anything in the cesspool for the yeast to digest. I put a night vision camera down into my cesspool and it was completely empty with the exception of about a billion cockroaches. It looks like the liquid drains away through the porous rock and the roaches eat whats left. I was going to say that whatever feces are draining into the ecosystem from porous-rock cesspools, they are cockroach feces, but then I remembered an episode of "Billy The Exterminator" where they talked about how baby cockroaches are "nursed" by eating adult cockroach feces. Also, cockroaches are cannibals in that they will eat dead cockroaches. It looks like the cockroach-cesspool cycle is self-sustainable as long as we keep flushing. Are septic systems this efficient?

ETA: It looks like the cockroach-cesspool cycle is self-sustainable as long as we keep flushing. Are septic systems this efficient?

[pahoated]

The bacteria in the septic tank break down the sewage into sludge and gray water. The gray water is further filtered by the leech field, which in Hawaii is about 20 x 20. The sludge is eventually pumped out. It's only for new construction but it will help to start restoring the coast areas. This sea life here is very sensitive to raw human waste.

"Aloha also means goodbye. Aloha!"

[AlohaDave]

quote:

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Originally posted by Tink

On the legality of the tank being approved by the State, all one would have to provide is the tank manufacturers documents to match to the State Health Department (808-933-0401) approval method by model number of tank to their list. It may be as simple as their requirement be something like "holding tank shall be a "listed and approved" pre-manufactured vessel ". With that, all one would need is either a "UPC listed and approved", or IAPMO label on the tank and good to go on that part. As far as Septic Engineers using your tank would be a bit more complex as you would have to pre contact them to work a deal.

Edit to update-- if SHD states only the chemtainer tank is approved at this time it is cheaper to buy here by 500 bucks or so minus your shipping cost.

Community begins with Aloha

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Typically units must conform to ASTM or ASSE standards or some other org depending on the situation or item. (I'm a retired Union Journeyman Plumber)

And of course since the field and tank are outside of the building, it normally does not require a license to install a septic system.
This is why you see land clearing companies offering to do site work.