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Potable water harvesting and an On-site Effluent Management Solution

Potable water harvesting and an On-site Effluent Management Solution

The structure and environmental context:

Project Brief: To provide drainagepotable water harvesting, and an On-site Effluent Management Solution.

Location

Waimarama Hawke's Bay NZ

System

22000L primary filtered septic tank + twin BIOROCK F units installed in parallel (MULTIROCK)

The challenge:

This was a very cool project to be part of. The infrastructure brief for this project was to provide drainage, potable water harvesting, and an On-site Effluent Management Solution for a five home Whanau (family) complex located on family land in Waimarama Hawke's Bay NZ. The social brief was to ensure that the Whanau who would be ultimately living in the homes would have as low as possible ongoing operational costs.

To be in keeping with this sustainable philosophy, the homes themselves have solar energy and additional insulation components. However, it may be that the specifically designed BIOROCK system is the real star of this project because it has been designed to be completely passive - No Power!   

The solution:

Sewage from the homes is conveyed from a 22000L primary filtered septic tank to twin BIOROCK F units installed in parallel. From there the treated effluent flows to a chamber that accurately discharges controlled volumes to specifically designed effluent application areas located along the base of the hill. It is proposed to plant this area with locally sourced shrubs and trees to further enhance the environment.

From both an environmental and social perspective this absolutely fantastic outcome: Large volumes of potential contaminants are being converted by the BIOROCK process to become a genuine asset that adds value to this property. The receiving environment is being protected and the landscaped areas are being irrigated with recycled effluent instead of valuable potable water.

All at no cost to the Whanau and to our knowledge, this is the first passive system of this scale in New Zealand