Worm Watewater Treatment on Small Residential Blocks « Alternative Technology Assn Forums

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Worm Watewater Treatment on Small Residential Blocks

(9 posts) (8 voices)

Started 8 years ago by Memphis
Latest reply from danpaul

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Memphis
Member

Hi everyone 

I’m building a house in southern suburbs of Adelaide and was wondering if anyone has any experience with worm farm waste water treatments on residential blocks?
We are in a non-main seweraged area (Sellicks Beach) which is on the far outer metro area but still metro enough to have block sizes less that 1000 sqm.
Our block is 900 sqm total and we have about 400sqm of that being back yard recreational space (obviously still need to build pergola and shed which will eat into a bit of that). Currently our builder has proposed an aerobic surface irrigation system which I am disputing for a number of reasons (which I am so sick of going into!) The wormfarm is most appealing to us at the moment as a plain old septic tank isn’t an option.

I’ve contacted A&A and Wormsmart re: quotes (so thanks guys I know you are on here too) but am looking for personal recommendations on the worm systems on such a small block area. Have you found it to have any disadvantages? Is it actually as low maintenance as companies claim? I’ve read a few bits and pieces about issues with submersible pumps and sediment build ups etc. I’d welcome any and all advice as we don’t have type of feedback to go off re: similar situations. According to my Council (which is one of the largest) they have had next to no experience with worm systems so can’t give me any direction- we’d be the first worm farm application our Public Health officer would have to process. I think I alarmed them slightly when I rang and asked about it!

Thanks in advance! 

Posted Wednesday 21 May 2014 @ 1:40:11 am from IP #
David
Member

A word of warning, for whats it's worth, if it says poison on any bottle avoid it, try to stick to non-toxic, grey water friendly or green products. There's no reason to put that type of system under stress if can you can avoid it.

Posted Wednesday 21 May 2014 @ 10:26:26 am from IP #
jtb
Member

Hi Memphis,

Good luck with council. I am finding it quite a struggle to get direct advice from them regarding Wastewater. They just say - see an engineer. Few Engineers will tackle anything alternative.

I have a friend in Crafers West with an AA worm farm. They said they had some post install issues and ordinary aftersales service BUT things improved on the service and repairs were made and they are now generally happy with their system. Their problems were a few years ago and they were probably one of the earliest SA clients of the VIC based company which might explain it.

For me, the problems associated with onsite dispersal could easily be fixed if Council allowed greywater to be treated and reused back in the house - effectively halving the water load into the systems, reducing the dispersal area by half.

I am a little over researching all the secondary systems that require regular servicing and ongoing chemical and power usages, need regular clean outs and (by reading many comments here) are far from failsafe. SAWater and Councils need to get their act together and service areas with Sewer mains that they will not allow septic tanks. Alternatively, they should subsidise the purchase of the H2O Pure Plus that treat the water to potable level and allow it to be used back in the house.

Gripe over.

Posted Tuesday 17 Jun 2014 @ 1:58:48 am from IP #
Bushwalker
Member

H2O Pure Plus that treat the water to potable level and allow it to be used back in the house

I had a look on the H2O Pure Plus website.

http://www.h2opureplus.com/whole-of-house.html

Black Water System

Each H2O PurePlus® system is able to treat both grey and black water together to local council standards. Pre-installed compartments within the system separate grey and black water.The cleansed grey water is returned to the dwelling via a return water tank. The black water can be connected direct to sewage and/or septic installations and then goes direct to above ground irrigation and sprinklers ONLY.

They claim their grey water system can be used to supply water back into the house, but not their black water system. Even with the grey water system, use of the processed water in the house is dependant on local regulations.

They also don't seem to offer any information on the operating principals of their systems. I wouldn't even look at such a system without knowing how it worked first. They may or not be a great WWTS company but it all sounds a bit shonky going by the website. (Blackwater system hands off to septic or sewer? Why have it in the first place?)

Managing a WWTS is a pain, I agree. But at least you get to use the resulting water and you don't have to pay sewer rates which in my experience covers the cost of installation and running of such a system. Worm systems require management just like aerobic systems - no free lunch (unless you are a worm).

Posted Tuesday 17 Jun 2014 @ 2:45:34 am from IP #
jtb
Member

Bushwalker,

Oh, I didnt get past the H2O blurb as I knew South Australia do not allow any treated water back into the house. But am pretty sure their blackwater is treated to the highest level in the QLD approvals making it a step above the biocycle/ozzikleen type secondary units and at least the same as the top of the range advanced secondary fuji and taylex units. Hence dispersal allowed but without the quarterly 'inspections'. This guy has an interesting summation....
http://www.greywateraustralia.com.au/system_choices_6.html

As for the "at least you get to use the resulting water"... this is the problem for me. Here we get winter rains, so I will have a dispersal area that is already soaked in winter and with the day temperatures hovering around 10deg max plants arent going to be soaking much of it up, hence I expect a bog and the potential for high nutrient runoff. And I lose my backyard to the bog/dispersal area.

If I were the type, I would ignore the regs and get a grey water system and pump it back to the toilets.

Posted Tuesday 17 Jun 2014 @ 3:39:59 am from IP #
barleysinger
Member

We want to get a worm septic for our house (45 minutes past everything - not even cell coverage). We are already "all green" out of necessity as two family members have serious Multiple Chemical Sensitivity ... or so says their mainstream Uni Hospital diagnostician (and all the seizure episodes & blisters from things). This is why we live way out where we do, where the soil is very poor and few things grow. What farming there is just can't support sprays. If you spray soil out here you can't keep farming it long (you stuff what little soil biology you have).

My biggest wonder (and I have got to get back to the company on this) is how well worms do with the saline bore water here in most of SA which is used for the toilets, laundry, bathing, chooks, etc. The same water gets used on the veggie garden (cia dippers) without any drama to the bugs in the soil ... including earthworms. I just haven't a clue about how they cope in a septic.

Posted Sunday 22 Jun 2014 @ 5:47:00 am from IP #
Katiej
Member

I have an A&A worm farm 3 years now. Had some issues with the pump when it was first installed but they fixed it and now we don't even think about it. No smell, no problems, we even disposed of a kangaroo carcass in it a year or so ago and from what I can tell, it was gone in a month or so. There was no visible trace of it anyway. I am very pleased with its simplicity and efficiency. So far so good.

Posted Tuesday 19 Aug 2014 @ 5:18:08 am from IP #
Greg
Member

We are in NSW and have a reedbed system. No real issue to date. Blackwater runs into a septic tank thence sequentially to two reed beds and finally a dispersion trench. Have had the water tested at entry to dispersal trench and council are happy.

The whole system runs on gravity and no chemicals. You are supposed to harvest the reeds to promote growth but the kangaroos do that for me

Posted Tuesday 19 Aug 2014 @ 5:27:43 am from IP #
danpaul
Member

Hi, can anyone give me an update on how their wormfarm systems are performing.
I am currently looking to have one installed and cannot decide between the wormsmart and the A&A systems. Both are about the same in price. Can anyone tell me of their experiences with these systems good and bad.
Cheers

Posted Tuesday 12 Dec 2017 @ 9:47:11 pm from IP #

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