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BROCHURES
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Oldcastle Precast® Decentralized Wastewater Systems
Featuring
patented Algaewheel® technology
Case Study - Dutchmen Industries
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| Project Name, Location |
Dutchmen Industries, Middlebury, Indiana |
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| System Type |
Bacpac® Pre-treatment System |
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| Discharge Type |
Absorption Field with Pipe and Gravel Trench |
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| Installation Date |
June , 2005 |
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| Project Mgr / Contractor |
Nuway Construction |
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| Site Contractor |
Quality Excavating |
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| Design Flow Specs: |
Flow Rate: |
3000 gpd |
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Soil Type: |
Sandy loam with loading rate of 0.6 gpd/sf |
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No. of bacpacs |
4 |
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| Background Information |
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Dutchmen Industries planned a new manufacturing facility in Middlebury, Indiana which would provide jobs for 150 employees. The LaGrange County Health Department had compiled historical data which suggested the need for improved wastewater treatment efficiencies beyond what conventional septic systems provide due to potential groundwater contamination. The highly permeable sand and gravel soils in this part of northern Indiana was cited as the reason for increasing levels of contamination in the drinking water. The new wastewater system would treat domestic sewage from the facility.
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| System Description |
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The system was designed for a daily flow of 3,000 gpd based on Indiana State regulatory design parameters. The bacpac system design was approved for use in this application by the state and local health departments and the system was installed in June of 2005.
Wastewater was conveyed to the system via gravity sewer piping. A 1,500 gallon equalization tank received the raw waste and subsequently metered the flow directly to the four bacpac units. Effluent from the bacpacs entered four 1,500 gallon settling tanks before gravity discharge to an effluent filter and then to the 2,500 square foot subsurface disposal field.
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| Importance of Operation & Maintenance |
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During the first scheduled maintenance visit, excessive solids buildup was noted on the surface of the algaewheels®, along with elevated nutrient and solids levels. This suggested that an unauthorized waste had been discharged into the system. It was discovered that the painting subcontractor had inadvertently disposed of a large amount of paint into the septic system. Additionally, through discussions with the owner and evaluation of the performance data, Algaewheel determined that the organic hand soap being used in the facility was causing the solids overload and elevated nutrients. The hand soap was changed, the tanks were pumped, the surfaces of the algaewheels were cleaned to remove the paint contamination, and the system was restored to operating condition in one day. Subsequent monitoring data showed that the system recovered very quickly. This scenario highlighted one of the major benefits of the bacpac system in that it can withstand hydraulic and organic shock loads without the need for costly or time consuming repairs. Waste strengths during the early time period were ten times that of normal domestic sewage and due to the conservative and redundant design of the Algaewheel system, the absorption field was protected. Had this been some type of media filter treatment system it would have failed and needed to be replaced.
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