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Technical Note (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), 1960-08-01
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Notes of a Meeting to Consider Studies on Household Sewage Disposal Conducted by the Ontario Research Foundation
Dickens, H. B.
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DIVISION OF BUILDING RESEARCH
'fEClHIN JICAlL
NOTlE
ｾ
ｾｉ
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
PREPARED BY H.B. Dickens CHECKED BY
FOR INTERNAL USE
APPROVED BY N. B •H •
DATE August 1960
PREPARED FOR limited distribution
SUBJECT NOTES OF A 1I'1EETING TO CONSIDER STUDIES ON HOUSEHOLD SEWAGE
DISPOSAL CONDUCTED BY WE ONTARIO RESEARCH FOUNDATION
The meeting was held on Tuesday, 21 June 1960 in the Conference Room of the Fire Research Building of the DBR. The
ｦｯｬｬｯｷｩｮｾ were present:
ntr.
J.R. Nenzies, Public Health Bngineering Division, Dept. of National Health ｾ Welfare. Dr. J.H. Wiebe, Indian and Northern Health Services,Dept. of Uational ｈ･｡ｬｴｾ (}; Welfare.
Dr. J.S. Willis, Indian and Northern Health Services; lJept. of National Health & Welfare.
Mr. A.B. Connelly, Engineering Division, Northern
Administration Branch, Dept. of NA&lffi.
ｾｲｲＮ K.W. Stairs, Engineering Division, Northern Administr-ation Branch, Dept. of NA&NR.
Mr. L.G. MacQuarrie, Engineering Division, Northern
Administration Branch, Dept. of NA&NR.
Mr. R.G. Harding, Northern Construction Division, Dept. of Public Works.
Mr. D.C. Smiley, Plans and Specifications Division, Dept. of Public Works.
• 2
-Mr. G. Parsons, Airport Development Division, DOT.
Mr. T. Hughes, Air Services Division, DOT.
Mr.
Lome Campbell, Ontario Research Foundation.Mr.
D.K. Smith, Ontario Research Foundation.Dr. N.B. Hutcheon, DBR, NRC. (Chairman)
Mr.
H.B. Dickens, DBR, NRC. (Secretary)Dr. Hutcheon opened the meeting at 9:35 a.m. by stating
that this meeting of representatives of government departments interested in the North had been arranged to acquaint them with
toe work that had been carried out on household sewage waste
dispoSal under the sponsorship of CMHC so that they could examine its potential in relation to their needs in the North.
He said that research studies had been conducted at the
Ontario Research Foundation beginning in November 1957 with the
prime objective of developing an improved method of handling sewage wastes in areas without sewers and where ground conditions limit
the use of septic tanks. These studies had been based on earlier
work done at Purdue University on the development of a
self-contained sewage treatment unit similar to that marketed under the trade name "Sanitoi". The sanitoi system handles toilet wastes only, based on an activated slUdge process and normally requires
no drainage connection to the outside. It consists of a 200- .
gallon tank and compressor to aerate the sewage, a circulating pump to flush the toilet mechanism and a grinder type toilet to prepare the sewage solids for more effective treatment by aeration. A larger unit on the same principle but designed to handle all
household wastes on a flow-through basis, has been developed by another company and is marketed as the "Cavitette". This unit utilizes a larger tank of 600-gallon capacity with a 3/4 hp
motor and pump to induce air by cavitation instead of by the
com-pressor and sparger used in the Sanitoi. In addition, a regular
toilet bowl is used without a grinder.
Dr. Hutcheon said that early work at the Ontario Research
Foundation had suggested the value of ,beginning the present study with these commercially available units to see how they performed
and to try ｩｭｰｲｯｶ･ｭ･ｮｴｳｾｨ･ｲ･ necessary. He said that much of the
subsequent work has been·with experimental units of the Sanitoi type but that some work is also being conducted with a flow-through
3
-in cases where all household wastes are to be handled, of re-ducingthe load on the septic tank. He said that the Cavitette unit appears potentially ｳ｡ｴｩｳｦ｡｣ｴｯｲｹｾｯｮ the basis of performance of a number of such installations in British Columbia and Ontario. Their field performance is to be studied in more detail, however, and work is also being planned to study the foaming problem
resulting from the use of detergents and also the value of serial dilution using a three-compartment system which might produce a more satisfactory effluent and might handle shock loads more
satisfactorily then the present single tank version of the Cavitette. Reverting to the Sanitoi, Dr. Hutcheon said that although it handled only toilet wastes, it offered the advantage of keeping all toilet sewage out of other household wastes, thus simplifying
the disposal of the latter. Mr. Lome Campbell and Mr. Duncan Smith then outlined in some detail the program of work with the Senitoi type of unit beginning with the trial installation of an original Sanitoi unit in Mr. Campbellis home in Toronto which had to be removed after only a short period of operation due to a
bad odour. Various modifications were then introduced and studied in the laboratory. These included the removal of the tank baffle and the addition of a separate settling tank of 20 gallons capacity from which the settled slUdge could be returned by pump to the main tank at twenty-four hour intervals. Later, a trickling filter
using coal was added and also a jet toilet of the type used on railway cars, but with a water seal, which would flush on only
ｾ gallon of water. He said that the jet action in this toilet breaks up the wastes sufficiently that a grinder is not needed. The toilet "does reqUire water under pressure (about 25 to 40 psi) and a
15-gallon pressure tank and pump is therefore required in the system. The unit was run for more than 8 months on a population load eqUivalent to 4 people for 8 hours per day and 5 days per week during which there was no obvious odour, some turbidity and colour in the recirculating fluid and no su"spended matter: The BoO.D.
content averaged 40 to 100 ppm but this was believed due to in-digenous respiration and not to unoxidized organic material. The E coli count was about 50,000 per 100 millilitres of original liqUid and there was some bUild-up in salts, notably the nitrate and
nitrites, but not sufficient to affect the biological action.
The long-term test was stopped, not because of any serious deficiencies in the system, but in order to free the equipment for a study of the effect of starting up without first seeding with activated sludge. This was successfully carried out. Normal
bacterial actiVity was developed in about two weeks and during that period there was only a slight additional musty odour. During the
4
-whole of the laboratory test period the experimental units have been operated with open tanks and without any objectionable odours.
Dr. ｈｕｴ｣ｨ･ｯｮｾ in ｲ･ｶｩ･ｷｾ stated that the investigations
to date had shown that an ｡･ｲｯ｢ｩｾ process could be operated success-fully in a 200-gallon tank handling a load of about 5 people. The process would run for at least 6 to 12 months without draining the tank to 'remove salt accumulations. It was evident that ｩｭｰｲｯｶ･ｭ･ｾｳ
in the quality of the effluent could be made by filters, and other devices, which would add to the complexity and cost of the system. Pasteurization of the flushing stream was a possibility. The
question was whether the effluent produced by the basic system was acceptable, at least for some purposes, and whether further studies of additional treatment devices were justified. The recirculating system described handles only the toilet waste stream and does not offer a solution to the disposal of bath, dish, and wash water.
The meeting then turned to a general discussion during. which a number of points were raised concerning the operation of and
possible difficulties with the recirculating system. It was suggested that the problem of coloured and turbid liquid in the toilet bowl
ｭｩｧｨｾ be overcome by introducing a small amount of fresh water at
each flushing. Mr. Menzies warned crf the dangers of back siphoning if a fresh water connection was made.
Dr. Willis asked why there was no need for drainage of excess liquid since this had been found necessary with the Sanitoi installations he had seen in Alaska. Mr. Campbell reported that evaporation had more than balanced added liqUid wastes.
Dr. Willis asked about abuses to ｴｨｾ system such as the addition of foreign material by the householder and it was pointed out that the system would not handle such material even if it was first ground up in a grinder-type toilet. It was suggested that some discipline might be needed on the part of the user, but that in some cases certain wastes could be removed periodically from the tank.
Mr.
Connelly indicated that his department was very in-terested in the possibilities of this development for the North in view of the considerable water saving" offered by elimination of the flush water. Mr. campbell said-that his observations of water usage in a household indicated that 60 per cent of the total water used was for flushing a normal toilet. The total water consumption was 153 gallons per day for a family of four or 38 gallons per person.5
-In reply to questions on staining of the toilet bowl,
breakdown of the air supply, and the effect of temperature,
Mro Campbell said that any discoloration was only a film and
could be removed easily by normal cleaning methods but ｴｨ｡ｾ
failure of the air supply would result in trouble with the system0
It-had been noted that foaming would occur when the air supply
was sta.rted again following a period without airo The most
effective temperature is in the range of 20°C to 25°C but the
system will continue to function down to ＱＰｾｃ although at a
decreased capacity.
Mro Harding mentioned that his department had
in-stalled a small-scale community aeration system at Moose Factory with steam heat introduced through the compressor to maintain
suitable temperatures for biological actiono This led to a
brief discussion of the best location of the household sewage system in a building in order to ensure satisfactory temperatureso
Mention was made of the advantages of constructing a false floor with sufficient space to house the tank and other parts of the
system which would also permit gravity drainage from the toilet
to the tank0 This method of construction has already been used
at Baker Lake and in some other northern areas and it was con-sidered by those present to be practicable and not too costlyo
Some discussion took place concerning alternative methods
of sewage disposal available for individual houses o Dr. Weibe
said that his department had installed one ttDestrollt unit in the
North and that twelve additional units were to be"installed in
nursing stations in isolated areas in the future. These require
chemicals to be added for decomposition and treatment of the sewage. He said that British Overseas Airways Corporation use this type
of unit in their aircrafto Mr. Smiley mentioned the "Incinamode" made by a Texas firm which incinerates the sewage using electrical heat but that this required a large amount of electrical power. Dro Hutcheon briefly outlined the other alternatives including a
Swedish proposal tQ transport sewage by air through a Ii-inch
plastic tube as well as the work carried out by the UoS. Army on incineration of sewage using oil as the carrying and burning
medium. There was also some discussion of a proposal made by Dro
Willis for disposing of household wastes directly into holes drilled in permafrost.
TIro Hutcheon suggested that there was a need to establish criteria for handling sewage in the North including some basic decisions as to how much water and electrical power are to be
prOVided or whether the sewage should be dealt with separately
6
-that his department would be interested in the possibility of scaling up the size of the units discussed in order to handle
larger loads such as are introduced in schools. It was recognized
that the sewage load in schools was concentrated over relatively snort periods of the day and that these were in the nature of "shock loads" to the system which might necessitate the use of several tanks to provide Itserial dilution".
There was some discussion as to whether further research or engineering development would provide answers to these kinds
of-questions. It was generally concluded that further laboratory
studies were limited in value and that this work was now at the stage where field installations might usefully be attempted.
Mr.
Connelly andDr.
Wiebe indicated that they would give carefulconsideration to trial installations of such units in the North.
Dr.
Hutcheon concluded the meeting by stating that apaper was being prepared outlining the work carried out by the Ontario Research Foundation to date and that this would be
circulated to interested departments when it was available. It
was also agreed that departments interested in designing such units for trial could contact the Ontario Research Foundation
for information on their work. The meeting then adjourned at
