Biotechnology goes underground
Septic systems have long been seen as an imperfect waste disposal technology AWaterloo firm has taken up the challenge to improve them By Judy Steed
An advanced- technology septic system — “ bacteria farming in a box,” in the words of developer, Craig Jowett, a former professor at the University of Waterloo — is making inroads in surprising places.
There’s an enclave of monster homes near the posh Bayview and Lawrence Aves. area of North Toronto that isn’t connected to the city’s sewer system and is on Waterloo Biofilter septics. On Highway 401 near London, Ont., a Husky Oil truck stop needed a new wastewater treatment system to enable its expansion. Concerns about space limitations, nitrogen loading ( from effluent) and lack of groundwater meant innovation was required. Enter Waterloo Biofilter, with its low- nitrogen emissions and capacity to clean and re- use Husky’s wastewater for toilets. Toronto’s award- winning Healthy House, sponsored by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), is an off-grid home constructed with solar panels, water collection systems and a Waterloo Biofilter to recycle wastewater.
In Northern Saskatchewan, a communal Waterloo Biofilter connects up to 35 houses on one system.
In Massachusetts, Waterloo Biofilters pop up — or burrow down — at restaurants and homes close to the ocean, where nitrogen removal from wastewater is crucial to protect the sea. ( Nitrogen promotes algae growth and can, in the form of ammonia, kill fish.)
At five ClubLink golf courses in Ontario, and at Toronto’s Granite Club golf course, Waterloo Biofilters “ are treating sewage wastewater to the highest degree and reusing the treated effluent in the golf course irrigation system,” states an article co- written by Jowett for the journal Environmental Science & Engineering. ( the Biofilter is installed at 30 golf courses). We could go on, and on, but you get the point: wastewater contamination of groundwater, lakes, rivers and oceans is on the radar of North American communities and regulatory authorities — following the advanced lead of most European countries — which makes for major business opportunities for Jowett and his partner ( and wife), Robin Jowett, a former exploration geologist. They met at the University of Toronto and explored for lead, zinc and copper in Germany, France and Spain in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After Craig returned to U of T to do his Ph. D. in geology- geophysics, he was a NATO science fellow at University of Michigan and Cornell University; from 1988 to 1993, he was a research professor in earth sciences at University of Waterloo.
There he connected with Waterloo’s world famous Institute for Groundwater Research and one of its leading lights, John Cherry, a global expert on groundwater contamination. Jowett, having studied the movement of fluids in relation to mines and oil and gas developments, became interested in Cherry’s septic system research group, looking at the migration of groundwater. And he remembered, growing up in the Cambridge, Ont. area, “ how the Grand River and the Speed River were basically sewage channels for towns that just pumped their waste into the river. Pretty much all of Ontario was like that. Fifty years later we’re still doing the same thing with septic tanks in the ground.”
Traditional septics with their large disposal beds can work well in loose, sandy soils — only if owners do not use chemicals, disinfectants or bleach that kill benefical bacteria in the tank. But if the system isn’t working properly, contaminants can seep into groundwater.
In Jowett’s experience, Ontario is riddled with old septics that don’t work — or homes and cottages that just have ancient holding tanks that leak effluent
surrounding soils and lakes. He is appalled that the province does not regulate the use of septic systems, and says there should be laws — rigorously enforced — that require all rural residents to have functioning septics that are regularly checked.
His epiphany occurred in 1990 at a University of Waterloo conference at a Ministry of the Environment office in Toronto. Jowett listened to all the talk about problems with septic systems leaking contaminants into groundwater and subdivisions proposed for “ sensitive” areas. The development of housing in areas outlying cities presents a major planning problem. Close to 40 per cent of new homes in the United States, and about 35 per cent in Canada, are being built with septic systems, not on municipal sewage lines. Which raises critical issues. How do we protect our aquifers? Where should housing be allowed? How do we create sustainable infrastructure on septics that are as good as sewage treatment plants, “ which often divert groundwater into rivers, so aquifers dry up,” Jowett says. He thought: “ If you take the septic bed out of the ground and put the whole thing in a box, you’ll get consistent treatment. But how can you treat effluent in a box so that the water coming out is clean before it reaches the environment?” A standard septic system consists of a pipe carrying wastewater from toilets and sinks into a tank, where solids settle to the bottom. Liquids flow out into a tile bed where contaminants filter through sand, gravel and surrounding soil.
“ Microbes in the soil are supposed to work with oxygen — which makes it an aerobic process — to further degrade contaminants,” explains Ignatius Ip, an engineer- in- training who works at Waterloo Biofilter’s headquarters in Rockwood, 45 kilometres east of Waterloo. But the process can malfunction — if the soil is heavy clay, or there’s a high groundwater table, enabling contaminants to reach groundwater before being adequately treated. Thus E. coli can spread into wells. Rocky areas also present problems; contaminated wastewater can seep though cracks and fissures in bedrock.
In the search for better septic technology, Jowett hired a microbiologist, Michaye McMaster, and they found through extach perimentation that dense polyurethane foam, cut into small cubes, provides an ideal medium for aerobic bacteria and filtering effluent.
Essentially, they added a stage to a traditional septic system and cut down the size of the disposal bed. Waste from the house enters a tank where fermentation takes place, as usual, with solids breaking down and then flowing into the Waterloo Biofilter “ bacteria box.” Instead of relying on a large disposal bed to treat wastewater, the treatment happens in the box. Effluent is dispersed over thousands of 5centimetre- square foam cubes, which hold water like a kitchen sponge.
“ Each foam square becomes a colony of bacteria — we’re optimizing conditions for bacteria growth,” Jowett explains. The naturally occurring bacteria “ atinto to the foam and eat the organic content ( in wastewater).” The pores in the foam, and the spaces between the cubes, allow oxygen to move through the box.
“All we’re doing is bacteria farming in a box.” So active are the bacteria that by the time water comes out, 99 per cent of pathogens — including fecal coliform — are gone. Which means the small disposal bed is just there to drain off water. The system can be installed in remote locations and on difficult sites — bedrock, high water table, clay soil or a home that lacks the space for a full- size tile bed. It can be dug into the ground or housed in a small shed. A Winnipeg company, Architectural and Community Planning (www.ecoseptic.ca), containerizes the Waterloo Biofilter system and trucks it to oil and gas camps through a leasing partner in Alberta, says Lisa Stashik, co- owner of the Winnipeg firm, which is in discussion with a Saudi Arabian oil company to provide similar units. By the late 1990s, the Waterloo Biofilter had been granted Canadian and U. S. patents. It had been tested in various jurisdictions, from Ontario to Massachusetts, and approved by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and by the U. S. National Sanitation Foundation.
Yet with every advance — Waterloo Biofilters can be found across Canada and in Missouri, Rhode Island, New York, New Mexico; as this story is written, Jowett is in Dubai, marketing the product — the company faces challenges. “ This is a highly regulated sector and every jurisdiction has its own rules and requirements,” says Robin Jowett. “ We have to seek approval in every area we enter.” The Waterloo Biofilter has been installed in Michigan, “ but I can’t say we have approval in Michigan,” she adds. “ We have approval in five counties in Michigan. It’s technical marketing. You have to sell the system to the regulators in the jurisdiction and get approval, then you can sell to engineers and designers of sewage treatment systems, and installers.”
At this point, the privately owned company is “ nicely profitable,” Craig Jowett says. Waterloo Biofilters are not cheap: the cost for a 3- bedroom home or cottage, installed, is about $15,000, including excavation, septic and Biofilter tank. A 40’ shipping container can hold a communal system to treat 25 houses at a cost of about $ 350,000. Thousands of Waterloo Biofilters have been installed, half in residential settings, half commercial or communal — big systems for resorts, campgrounds, golf courses.
They’ve been in continuous use, and tested, in Ontario and Massachusetts for 12 years with no need to replace or clean the foam cubes to date. The foam will last, Jowett anticipates, at least 30 years; if necessary, the cubes can be washed, squeezed and put back in with new foam on the bottom. Fifty years out, they can be dumped in landfill and replaced.
Nowadays, Jowett is focused on new technology to treat “ all the chemicals that are so prevalent ( in septics), unfortunately.” His mission is to get the septic system industry equivalent to sewage treatment plants, in terms of efficacy. “We need provincial regulations requiring every rural home and business to have a functioning septic, with maintenance and servicing part of the package.”