Home Sewage Treatment
A Home Sewage Treatment Plant (HSTP) is similar to a Municipal Sewage Treatment Works, except that it is designed to fit in your own back yard. A HSTP uses all the same proven treatment methods as the larger municipal systems to treat all your home’s wastewater, that’s everything that flows from your toilets, showers/baths, washing machines etc. A HSTP treats and disinfects the homes wastewater to such a high degree that the water is able to be reused on your lawn for irrigation purposes. Most people would not realise that a home has its own HSTP because they are low maintenance (Taylex systems only need to be serviced quarterly) and function the same as a typical mains/municipal sewer connection, with the added benefit of being able to reuse your water.
Septic systems have been used to treat wastewater for hundreds of years, but their treatment methods/results are largely outdated by today’s standards. Septic tanks have no aerobic or equivalent advanced secondary treatment methods and only treat wastewater 20% of what is required to ensure it is harmless to the environment. Meaning the wider environment is responsible for the remaining 80% of treatment putting it under unnecessary strain.
Additionally septic tanks are only designed to treat the homes black-water (sewage) meaning you will need to install additional separate grey-water and grease trap tanks, whereas a Taylex system offers a 1 tank solution.
In applications where the system will go for prolonged periods with no use at all (e.g. remote Country Fire Authority/fire brigade depots) a septic tank may prove to be the most effective option and Taylex do make systems for these situations, however for 95% of applications Advanced Secondary Wastewater treatment systems are the best option.
A worm farm is a method of sewage treatment that is carried out by the action of worms that live in the sewage treatment plant and produces results that are classified in the same way as septic tanks. As the treatment is relying solely on the worms for the treatment, if the worms are killed due to surge loading, exposure to harsh chemicals etc, the worms will die impacting the effectiveness of the systems treatment process.
The homeowner is required to clean any sediment from inside the distribution pit, wearing protective gloves and bury 200mm below ground. Because the treatment method only partly removes the pollutants, the water pumped from the system must be discharged at least 200mm below ground in a trench system (Victorian EPA Requirement), identical to the requirements throughout Australia for Septic Tank Systems.
A sand filter is an additional treatment process fitted to a Septic Tank outlet to process the partially treated effluent from the Septic Tank. Because the All-Waste Septic Tank is incapable of reducing the pollution level in the sewage and sullage that discharges from the home, to a level that is safe to humans and the environment, a sand filter is constructed behind the septic tank to receive all the still heavily polluted effluent. The correct grading and placement of the sand, placement of the distribution and under-drains etc. can greatly affect the successful operation and operating life of the Septic Tank Sand Filter System. Because the sand acts as a mechanical filter for non-treatable matter, the septic tank must be pumped regularly to ensure solids flushed out of the septic tank do not block the sand media.
The sand media cannot be backwashed or cleaned and must be removed and replaced by fresh sand at the end of the life of the sand media. In poorly designed or constructed systems, failure can occur in as little as 3 years or less. leading to the need to dig out the sand with a machine, load it into trucks, transport it to a noxious disposal site and bring back in several truckloads of fresh sand.
Both the Taylex concrete and lightweight wastewater treatment systems are six- stage aerated wastewater treatment systems that exceed the national standards and are certified in all Australian states and territories. So why have both options available if they essentially do the same thing?
Our concrete ABS Systems are suited to 90% of all domestic installations. Taylex Polymer Tanks are designed to accommodate site conditions where it is not possible to crane in a concrete treatment system e.g. steep terrain. Our unique polymer mould cleverly uses ‘Sandwich closed-cell foam polymer’ to mould the compartment walls in one piece. There are no joins or glued-in compartments and all partitions extend to the lid of the tank, so you can enjoy the same peace of mind as if you had a Taylex concrete system.