Sewerage systems of the future? (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Sarah Mukherjee
BBC environment correspondent

The deep green reeds, yellow water lilies and gently splashing water simply look like an attractive water feature.

But in fact, this Sustainable Urban Drainage System (Suds) could be the future of sewerage management.

"This is using technology and engineering to slow the water down from when it comes from the sky to when it gets into the river" says Simon Hughes, flood risk assessor from the Environment Agency.

"It uses the lakes to make sure that heavy rain doesn't run into the system too quickly".

The first drains built in Britain were Roman, and since then, engineers through the ages have tried to find the most effective way of removing waste from increasingly urban areas.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6916102.stm

[ret5hd]

1. So they are kinda like WETLANDS...

only hippies and liberals like wetlands.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Yes, almost exactly like wetlands, you could say ... :) nt

[kestrel91316]

3. Constructed wetlands are useful for wastewater treatment:

http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/construc/

Arcata, CA has one.
http://www.humboldt.edu/~ere_dept/marsh/

I think wetlands are COOL. And I REALLY like to see them used for what nature designed them for!

[NNadir]

4. My son's school had a project where the students (sixth graders) discussed

ancient septic systems in the Harrapan culture, dating back thousands of years ago.

The kids built models of the systems and gave lectures on how they worked. They were fabulous, the kids lectures. I learned lots of things from those 12 year olds that I never knew.

The systems worked rather like the ones you describe here.

I have a septic system on my property. I have always had a dream in the back of my mind of replacing it with an ozonolysis system coupled to a series of ponds filled with various kinds of plants. I believe the system would be superior to septic systems, particularly because it would tend to remove nitrogen and phosphorous from the waste stream.