Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., will use $2 million in state funding as seed money to establish a program in Suffolk County (Long Island) to develop and commercialize technology to remove nitrogen from septic system and cesspool effluent (many of the septic systems utilize a cesspool as the leachfield). 

With a population of 1.5 million people, about 70 percent of homes in the county, more than 360,000, use onsite wastewater systems. Suffolk County is also conducting a lottery to give away 19 onsite systems, including five years of monitoring and maintenance.

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Idaho considers changes to onsite health guidance

Several changes are planned in the next revision of onsite wastewater regulations by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. According to a public notice, the DEQ is considering changes to address “septic tank maintenance techniques, septic tank approval and approval transfer procedures, extra drainrock drainfields, incinerator toilets, intermittent sand filters, steep slope systems, septic tank and dosing chamber installation, and extended treatment package systems.” 

It says the changes are designed to ensure that the technical guidance manual reflects current public health standards.

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$3.5 million transfer station on the horizon for Canada

The 46,000-square-mile Peace River Regional District in British Columbia is planning to build three septage receiving stations to serve its rural residents and work camps. The City of Dawson Creek recently approved a $3.5 million trucked waste facility for its municipal wastewater treatment plant. 

Unlike an existing transfer station in Dawson Creek, the new one will be staffed and will include sensors to detect hazardous materials. Contractors have been caught several times trying to dispose of diesel and fracking chemicals at the unmanned transfer station, according to Alaska Highway News. The City of Fort St. John recently announced it was closing its septage facility at the end of 2014 because several illegal dumping cases threatened the city’s treatment system. 

“The issue of waste disposal has become increasingly fraught in recent years, in part because new federal laws expose cities to more liability should waterways be contaminated with sewage,” reported the newspaper.