Download Remediation of Septic Disposal Fields

Remediation of Septic Disposal Fields
The Pirana is a patented device and method to remediate failed septic system disposal fields, digest grease
and oil in grease traps, improve agriculture waste impoundments and provide active bacterial cultures for
general waste water treatment applications. The primary intent was to provide a solution to septic system
failure that was affordable, low impact to property or landscaping and require little or no maintenance. The
Pirana accomplishes this and more.
The success of the patented Pirana remediation methodology and design mandates that it be included in the
list of approved options to correct septic system failure. Remediation needs to be understood and defined,
then compared to repair or replace options. Remediation is a distinct and different method. Engineers,
installers and regulators need to address this new approach. In addition, by installing a Pirana into an
existing functional septic system, and maintaining it properly, 95% of septic system failures cannot occur.
The terms replace, repair and remediate, when used to describe onsite waste disposal options, cannot be
taken in the literal definitions as found in a common usage dictionary. Each is an "art " with specific
definitions, approaches, options and techniques in the application of the respective "art." Each has a point
of view to attain a common objective. That objective is to restore the function of a septic system where the
disposal field is near or at failure.
It is generally understood and accepted by the onsite waste disposal industry that a septic system is going to
fail. Civil engineers and regulators frequently represent the functional life of a typical septic system at 20
to 25 years. The failure occurs in the disposal field. The disposal field will fail from a reduction in
hydraulic capacity because of biomat formation on the soil interface. The biomat, a bacterial slime formed
by intestinal anaerobic bacteria, will form on the soil interface and "mature" over time. "Maturing" means
thickening and the filling of soil pores and voids around the disposal field. The biomat will eventually clog
enough of the soil pores in the disposal field so that less liquid can pass through the "mature" biomat than is
put into the septic system each day. The liquid has to go somewhere. It does. The liquid surfaces over the
septic system, or it backs up the plumbing.
The biomat is part of the treatment for septic effluent in an anaerobic system not the only treatment.
Biomat treatment is open to discussion and disagreement. The reality is the final treatment is in the soil,
not the biomat. The point of onsite waste disposal is to get the effluent into the soil for this final treatment.
What is agreed is the biomat will cause the septic system to fail. "Accept it, it’s a fact of life if you have a
septic system," property owners are frequently informed. EPA publications have stated that biomat
clogging of the soil pores is the cause of 95% of septic system failures. The other 5% fail from construct
issues. This is more unfortunate for expensive engineered systems such as mounds, PDs and sand filters.
These systems fail from the same biomat formation. The Pirana remediation method and approach easily
and inexpensively solves this biomat failure problem.
The repair or replace approach to the problem of septic system failure is to define the failure as irreversible.
Once failure of the disposal field occurs, there is only one option, abandon the disposal field and construct
another one. Replacing or repairing a disposal field involves a massive output of energy, tremendous cost
to the property owner and destruction of property and mature landscaping.
The Pirana remediation approach to failure of a disposal field is to view failure as temporary and
reversible. Disposal field function can be restored from within the failed septic system. This is
accomplished by changing the microbiology of the effluent in the septic tank, with very specific bacteria,
prior to discharge to the failed disposal field. At the same time, the organic load of the effluent is
dramatically reduced. In the failed disposal field, the specific bacteria consume the biomat. No biomat,
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no failure. "In the septic tank" is the key. This requires a tiny amount of energy, up to a 90% reduction in
the cost when compared with the repair or replace approach and no destruction to property and landscaping.
This is made possible by the new Pirana technology.
Currently, some states and local jurisdictions allow the use of ATUs and sand filters to accomplish
something "comparable" to the remediation approach. (Mounds are also used in repairs for pretreatment
and disposal) The intent is to pretreat the effluent or reduce the organic load in the effluent before it travels
to the disposal field. This starves the bacteria that create the biomat thereby reducing the thickness of the
biomat and restoring hydraulic capacity. This is accomplished by installing the ATUs or sand filters
between the septic tank and the disposal field. The problem with this method is the inefficiency of these
systems. The ATUs require large volume, multi-chambered, pre-assembled aeration tanks with pumps and
or compressors. Many ATUs require agitators, propellers and internal filters. They can be a maintenance
nightmare. Sand filters have equal problems. They are engineer designed, very large, plastic lined pits
filled with graded sand. A dosing chamber with a pump and controls is often, if not always, required in the
design. Sand filters are temperamental and fail from biomat clogging of the sand pores. Both require
major construction and excavation. Both are expensive. Both are destructive to property and landscaping.
Both have disposal field failure after their treatment process. They do not restore the existing septic system
from within. They add a major addition to it. This is more like the repair or replace approach.
Our communities are now faced with problems that make the use of the Pirana remediation imperative.
Drainage Basins with population densities adversely affecting water quality, spiraling increases in the cost
of approved repair or replace designs, tens of millions of failed septic systems across the country with an
estimated million plus septic system failures going unreported and uncorrected every year, the view by
property owners that government and engineers are the enemy because their approved options are too
expensive and invasive, are but a few examples of the current problems. This situation requires that new
innovative septic approaches to restore failed septic systems be efficiently tested and quickly accepted and
approved for general use. There is enough research data to understand any innovative design or
technology. For the Pirana remediation method, the problem is simple and the solution uncomplicated.
Eliminate the problem bacteria, replace them with more appropriate facultative bacteria and allow the
resulting effluent, entrained with the appropriate bacteria, to flow to the failed disposal field. These
bacteria will consume the biomat and allow the effluent to be absorbed into soils for disposal. The
engineering community needs to join in new ideas and concepts outside of the repair or replace approach.
The need is even more important for government agencies and regulators.
The remediation approach cannot harm a septic system using the Pirana. The Pirana can only help a septic
system. There are thousands of studies and reports that support the various components of the concept of
Pirana remediation. No claim is made, however, about performance or levels of treatment though the
Pirana is the most efficient and effective treatment unit on the market today. The only claim is the Pirana
will remediate failed disposal fields. In the last 60 months, over 2000installations using the Pirana have
been installed in failed septic systems (and grease traps) of every imaginable design and use, in twenty
states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and three foreign countries. These Piranas have successfully
remediated all of the failed systems. Currently, all are operating properly. As long as the Pirana is
maintained in the septic system, the septic system cannot fail from biomat formation. Simply said, septic
system failure is biological. The solution is biological.
Prepared by:
Jerry Fife / Pirana System
Inventor of the Pirana
Co-inventor of the Pirana Method
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