WERF: Sustainable Watershed Protection through Distributed Management of Decentralized Systems

Saturday, October 18, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm
1 day, 0.6 CEUs

As communities search for solutions to increasing strain on wastewater treatment system capacities and aging infrastructures, the water quality industry has begun to take note of decentralized systems and distributed management.  Many in the industry have questions about their long-term viability and how they can help achieve water quality and human health protection goals.

For the last five years, WERF has led the way in researching the efficacy and applicability of such systems in a variety of situations.  This workshop brings together principal investigators and collaborators from several Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) projects who will discuss their research findings. 

The workshop will cover:

• The long-term performance of community-sized systems
• The applicability of decentralized systems in urban and suburban areas
• Establishment of successful Responsible Management Entities
• Characteristics of influent wastewater for onsite systems
• Suggestions to help ensure that green buildings ratings schemes include wastewater and stormwater treatment appropriately

The afternoon has been set aside for a field visit to a conservation subdivision of 68 homes that replaced a recreational vehicle park that had chronically malfunctioning septic systems located in a lakefront flood plain.  Putting in a cluster system saved the developer 50% of the projected cost of providing municipal sewerage to the development.  The lakefront area’s floodplain and adjacent surface waters are now protected, providing an amenity to homeowners in addition to improved water quality.  Lunch and transportation to/from the field site will be provided.

Speakers

• Todd Danielson, Loudoun Water
• Anthony Smithson, Lake County Health Department
• Bob Rubin, McKim & Creed
• Cynthia Mitchell, University of Technology, Sydney
• Damann Anderson, Hazen and Sawyer
• Jim Carroll, USDA Rural Utility Service
• Mia Tucholke, Colorado School of Mines
• Robert Goldstein, Electric Power Research Institute
• Victor D’Amato, ARCADIS

Keywords
decentralized, on-site system, septic system, small community, wastewater treatment, distributed management, natural treatment systems, groundwater, Responsible Management Entities (RME)