|
Frantom has spent days driving past empty slabs that once
supported magnificent old antebellum homes, houses that are
now piles of rubble. He's dodged mounds of trash clogging
the city's streets. He's avoided scores of fallen
trees and downed power lines that blocked these same roads.
And he's marveled at the trash that he's seen
hanging from the upper branches of those few trees that Katrina
hadn't uprooted.
"It really brings you down to earth to see this,"
Frantom says. "You see it face to face and it's
nothing like it is on TV. The people there have absolutely
nothing. Nothing is left."
Frantom, though, has a job to do. He works in the sales
and marketing department of Downsville, LA-based Ecological
Tanks Inc., a wastewater management firm that manufactures
Aqua Safe Aerobic Treatment Plants. He traveled to Bay St.
Louis shortly after Katrina hit to provide Carriere Construction,
of Lafayette, LA, with more than 250 fiberglass Aqua Safe
tanks to be used at a temporary village housing Chevron workers
scrambling to get the area's oil refineries back in
service.
The workers are living in temporary quarters, mostly trailers.
Carriere's job was to provide this makeshift village
with an efficient and easy-to-install wastewater treatment
system. Ecological Tanks' Aqua Safe tanks did the job.
"We have no idea how long the tanks are going to be
up there," Frantom says. "It's going to
be a long process getting the Gulf Coast back up and running.
This is just the beginning. There is so much widespread damage.
Everything is just torn up."
Frantom isn't the only wastewater specialist working
in the Gulf region. The industry faces a big challenge in
Louisiana and Mississippi, where Hurricane Katrina, and the
flooding that it caused, wiped out an untold number of individual
onsite septic systems. No one knows yet the exact number of
systems that the hurricane destroyed, but wastewater specialists
agree that it will take years before all are running again.
The reason for this is simple: The residents of the Gulf
Coast face huge challenges. Many lost their homes, loved ones
and their careers. Many have not decided whether they will
ever return to the region. Replacing a damaged septic system
is understandably far down the list of their priorities.
"How long will it take to get these systems back?
I have no idea," says Mike Pomier, an engineer with
American Wastewater Systems in Duson, LA. "We've
had hurricanes before. But they were not nearly the catastrophe
that we have now. I don't see how in a year's
time, even, we can get everything back and running. This is
going to be a whole different process. We're not talking
about wind damage or electric surges. This is a major flood.
We have homes that need to be rebuilt. I can't imagine
that septic systems will be the first to be back online."
A Matter Of Priorities
Katrina presents a dilemma for those working in the onsite
septic industry. The hurricane underscored a problem that
wastewater workers have long railed against: State and local
officials in the Gulf region traditionally have not put much
effort into making sure that onsite systems are regulated,
inspected, or maintained on a regular basis.
With so many systems now damaged, and many needing to be
repaired or replaced, this would seem an ideal time for the
region to toughen its inspection and maintenance requirements.
But Gulf region legislators and local officials now have so
many bigger problems to tackle, it's hard for septic
industry professionals to push the matter.
Pomier understands this. Katrina, and then Hurricane Rita,
hit the area with such force—and flooded it so severely—that
Pomier, while driving through the coastal Louisiana resort
town of Holly Beach, saw entire septic tanks that the storm
waters had ripped out of the ground.
"They were floating like buoys 10 miles in off the
coast," he says.
The few septic systems that Pomier has inspected following
the storm are completely destroyed, needing total electrical
and motor replacement. And this is just the beginning of the
problem. Pomier predicts that the true number of damaged onsite
systems won't be known for years. A big reason? Gulf
region residents have long treated their onsite systems as
an afterthought. That certainly isn't going to change
now that they face so many other major decisions.
"Over the years, if residents could flush, they believed
that their systems were working," Pomier says. "Then
the hurricane comes in. It wipes everything out. Everything
they own is destroyed. Say they rebuild. Their onsite systems,
if they're still there, won't get touched. As
long as they can flush them, they'll just think everything
is fine. They won't ever know if they're not working
properly."
 |
PHOTO: KOCH MEMBRANE SYSTEMS |
| Koch Membrane Systems sent one of its most specialized water purifiers for use at a hospital in Biloxi, MS. |
 |
PHOTO: KOCH MEMBRANE SYSTEMS |
| Within hours, the system was coverting seawater to clean drinking water for the hospital . |
Then there's the sobering fact that many of the residents
who faced the hurricane will be working full time to get their
insurance companies to pay for the costs of rebuilding their
homes. Many, depending on their deductibles, will decide that
they can't afford to pay for repairs to their septic
systems.
"The ones that don't have enough insurance or
can't get any FEMA money are just going to let their
systems sit there until they can't flush anymore and
they have to do something," Pomier says.
This sounds grim, and it is, but septic industry workers
in the region don't blame the residents here for concentrating
on other matters.
"It is heartbreaking what these people are going through,"
says Frantom. "Bay St. Louis looks like a tidal wave
hit them. Some say it was a surge, but to me it was a tidal
wave. All these antebellum homes, nice two-story homes with
big columns in front, live oaks in front of them, little gazebos—there's
nothing left of them now but slabs. And there's trash
in the trees, 20, 30 feet in the air. It was just a massive
amount of water that went through here. I never would have
imagined in a million years that the bay would get this kind
of damage, but it did."
Because onsite systems are not yet a priority, this incredible
damage hasn't resulted in a bonanza of new business
for industry pros, though there has been at least some impact
on septic contractors in Louisiana.
"There have been some contractors who have left the
parts of the state that weren't hit, that are dry, and
gone down to the areas that have been hard hit," says
Bruce Lee, president of the Louisiana Onsite Wastewater Recycling
Association. "Some contractors went south right after
the hurricane. I don't know if they found work, but
work did pick up here in my area, because there was a little
dip in the number of contractors available."
Fixing a Broken System?
Luke Deshotels, owner of Mamou, LA-based Luke Deshotels Construction,
an installer and manufacturer of onsite systems, says he's
been working for years to get his state's septic requirements
up to those set in other parts of the country.
Unfortunately, his efforts have not resulted in the tougher
regulations that he, and other contractors in this region,
have sought.
"Louisiana is falling behind the rest of the nation
as far as onsite sewer systems go," Deshotels says.
"Our aerobic units are probably the least expensive
in the nation, and they're not maintained as well as
they should be, either. We are an industry that is crying
out for regulations. But we're not getting any response
from the politicians or the agencies. The problem is that
as long as the toilet flushes, homeowners are content. There
is nothing now that requires them to do any maintenance, have
any inspections or do anything to care for their onsite systems."
Deshotels recognizes that post-hurricane Louisiana does
present an opportunity for tougher onsite sewer regulations.
After all, many systems will need to be repaired and rebuilt
now. What better time to enact tougher regulations, rules
that will require homeowners to have regular inspections of
their systems by licensed onsite industry pros?
Problem is, Deshotels says, the Louisiana Department of
Health and Hospitals is woefully underfunded. The agency lacks
enough manpower, too, to properly monitor the state's
onsite systems, he says. Upping the agency's budget
and manpower would require additional funding, and odds are
good that funding would have to come from increased taxes,
something few politicians are willing to campaign for, Deshotels
says.
"Politically, no one wants to do anything that's
going to mean more work and expense for the state,"
Deshotels says. "The politician who puts rocks in people's
driveways, who fixes their roads is the one who gets re-elected.
The guy who endorses proper sewage treatment doesn't."
Deshotels estimates that the typical aerobic residential
sewer system in Louisiana costs about $2,400, installed and
ready to go. He's spoken to contractors in other states,
and, Deshotels says, Louisiana offers the cheapest onsite
systems.
The systems usually work fine at first, he says. But system
problems typically happen after their two-year warranty and
maintenance contracts expire, Deshotels says. Homeowners,
who do not generally consider sewer maintenance a priority,
ignore unnecessary expenses. And what is more unnecessary
to a homeowner than calling out a contractor to inspect an
onsite sewer system that appears to them to be working just
fine?
 |
PHOTO: FEMA |
| The storm surge at Bay St. Louis was probably the worst
in the town's history. |
In a letter he wrote to the EPA, Deshotels does point out
that some independent parishes in Louisiana—places such
as Calcasieu and St. Tammany—are beginning to enforce
more stringent onsite system maintenance on their own. But
until requirements are set down from a higher authority—possibly
the EPA—most of the state will ignore the problem of
faulty onsite systems, he says.
"The majority of the state chooses to remain ignorant
and continues to pretend that onsite systems are not polluting
the waterways and aquifers," Deshotels wrote in his
letter. "The housing trend in Louisiana is majority
rural and will continue to be such. We need your help to begin
some effort to providing a solution for this growing problem."
State authorities are rightly concerned about pollution
caused by the flood waters. But Deshotels says that faulty
onsite systems have been polluting state waters far longer.
"They are being built to last only two years,"
he says. "We end up with a magic box. The water drains
through it, it goes into a ditch, into the waterways, and
no one is being held responsible for it. I see in other states
where good, responsible, reputable people establish businesses.
They stay in business because there is some enforcement. In
Louisiana, to survive in the aerobic-treatment business you
need to sell systems that are cheap, because everyone else
is, too. It's very hard to sell a customer more than
what the absolute minimum is. The biggest priority for everyone
is price. Very little thought is given to making it better
or making it last longer."
Decentralized Problems Not As Severe?
Those outside the Gulf region have their own opinions on the
challenges facing the area. But those who spoke to Onsite
Water Treatment agreed that individual decentralized septic
systems are probably better suited to handle disasters such
as Katrina than are larger central systems run by municipalities.
Austin, TX-based engineer David Venhuizen, a proponent of
decentralized wastewater systems, says that Katrina shows
that smaller, less intricate individual systems make more
economic sense than do the large, more complex treatment systems
that have traditionally served a majority of city dwellers.
"The onsite systems are much less problematic than
are the centralized systems," Venhuizen says. "In
the central systems, the whole thing washes out. The flooding
washes out pipes. It destroys manholes. The whole treatment
process can be damaged by the flood. It's a problem
that takes much longer, and more resources, to fix."
In most floods, conventional onsite systems are well-protected,
Venhuizen says. That's because the smaller tanks of
decentralized systems are buried deep enough to protect them
from water. Systems with electric pumps, of course, may be
damaged by floodwaters if their electrical components get
washed out.
Venhuizen admits that aerated treatment units can get trashed
if they're flooded, and their owners may have to replace
all their blowers and electrical components. Their sand filters,
too, may have to be cleaned.
Still, these problems are relatively minor and have easy
fixes.
"The long-term viability of these units should not
be damaged by the hurricanes," Venhuizen says. "Once
you correct the problems caused by the flooding, the system
should go back to being the way it was."
Are there steps homeowners can take to protect their onsite
systems from flood damage? That depends on how creative they
want to be, Venhuizen says. And even then, there is no guarantee
that even the best-planned systems could survive the type
of flooding seen in Katrina's wake.
Venhuizen points to a project in Washington, NC, on which
he recently worked as an advisor. Houses in a residential
subdivision are being built 9 feet above the ground so that
they will stand above the level of the 100-year floods that
hit the region. The septic tanks serving the homes are buried
at ground level, but their filter pods are set up on mounds,
as are their electrical components. That protects the parts
of the systems that can be easily damaged.
"If you can predict the level of flooding, like in
this instance, you can certainly build structures to protect
the systems," Venhuizen says. "But when you're
facing something like a hurricane and sea surges that can
create unpredictable levels of flooding, that's a more
iffy situation."
Still, Venhuizen says, decentralized systems are good options
for homeowners located in hurricane zones.
"If you have a normal storm, people might evacuate.
When the water goes down, they come back, fix their roofs
and go on with their lives," Venhuizen says. "The
problems in a centralized system are longer term, harder to
fix and not as easy to address as in an individual or small
scale system. The smaller scale makes them easier to deal
with."
Smaller systems even make more sense when people are returning
to a devastated area and rebuilding.
"If people just need to address their own system,
they have a more decent ability to address a problem than
if they had to wait for agencies to address large systems,
given that these agencies are up to their eyeballs in other
problems," Venhuizen says. "Basically, a dispersed
infrastructure is more immune to catastrophic events."
Pio Lombardo, owner of Lombardo Associates Inc., an environmental
engineering and consulting firm located in Newton, MA, agrees
that there is no inherent reason why individual septic systems
wouldn't be good wastewater options along the Gulf Coast,
even though that region is obviously susceptible to flooding.
"Septic systems should be used where the site conditions
allow them to be used," Lombardo says during an e-mail
interview. "Septics should work fine. They are very
effective in the low- to mid-density areas."
John Buchanan, assistant professor with the University of
Tennessee's Center for Decentralized Wastewater Management,
also says that there is no reason why decentralized systems
should be replaced in the Gulf region with alternative wastewater
treatment methods. He did, though, say that because he has
not observed firsthand the damage caused to Gulf Coast septic
systems, he can't comment with certainty on the impact
the flood waters might have had on them.
"Since I am located in ‘high and dry'
Tennessee, I am not in a position to comment on the onsite
systems that have been flooded. My intuition tells me that
the flooded systems will regain their ability to be operated
once the soil dries out and the water table lowers to a normal
level," Buchanan says in an e-mail interview.
There are certain steps homeowners and contractors can take
once they do begin repair work on the region's onsite
systems, according to Buchanan.
"It would be a good management plan to pump the tanks,
after the water table drops, to ensure that tanks and drain
fields did not become disconnected," he says. "Homeowners
will need to inspect the absorption fields for erosion caused
by excessive surface water. But, once again, I am not there
and really can only guess at how the systems will respond."
Scott Wallace, vice president of North American Wetland
Engineering in White Bear Lake, MN, has his own thoughts on
the best way to handle wastewater treatment in areas prone
to flooding. He recommends engineered wetlands.
 |
PHOTO: FEMA |
| No one kows yet the exact number of septic systems destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, but specialists agree it will be at least a year before all are running again. |
Wetlands designed specifically to filter water coming from
homes or businesses provide several advantages over even the
most technologically advanced onsite septic systems, Wallace
says.
"Constructed wetlands are a relatively passive treatment
technology," Wallace says. "They don't require
a lot of mechanical components. In terms of their robustness
and their ability to recover after a storm, they are going
to be much easier to bring back online than are some of the
more complicated mechanical components of onsite systems."
Like other advocates of decentralized water treatment, Wallace
sees a bigger question when looking at the impact Katrina
has had on the Gulf's septic systems: Does it ever make
sense to rely on one centralized wastewater treatment plant
to serve a large area? How large, he asks, should the sewage
treatment and infrastructure of municipalities be?
Wallace argues that the more decentralized, the better.
Decentralized systems, he says, are more flexible, and give
their owners more control.
He likens the question of centralized or decentralized to
the growing popularity of distributed power generation. This
form of providing electricity—where electric power distribution
is handled in a decentralized manner—is superior, he
says, to the traditional methods of providing power to large
areas from just a few big coal-fired power plants.
"It's not as efficient. With the centralized
system you are transporting electricity miles and miles over
the grid to get it where the demand is," Wallace says.
"The centralized wastewater treatment is very analogous
to that. Just because it was built that way originally in
the Gulf region, that doesn't mean it makes sense to
rebuild it that same way."
Doing Their Part
As questions linger over the future of the Gulf region's
damaged onsite systems, contractors in the onsite wastewater
industry are still doing their part to help Louisiana and
Mississippi residents return to their former lives.
Officials with Koch Membrane Systems, based in Wilmington,
MA, for instance, worked with engineers from the US Army and
the US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation
to deliver clean and potable water for rebuilding, humanitarian
aid, and disaster relief in areas that have been decimated
by Katrina.
For instance, Koch Membrane Systems sent one of its Expeditionary
Unit Water Purification Systems—at the request of the
Federal Emergency Management Administration—to the Biloxi
Regional Medical Center.
Bringing the system to the right area turned out to be more
challenging than usual, though. With the devastation wrought
by Katrina, traditional street addresses were of little use.
"We were told to bring it to the beach behind the
Hard Rock Café," says John McArdle, director
of commercial development for Koch Membrane Systems. "They
said to look for the big guitar. For some reason, that big
guitar was still standing."
The Expeditionary Unit Water Purification System proved
especially effective in the damaged Gulf region. This is little
surprise: The US Army administered the project to develop
and build the systems, requesting that the systems be designed
to work even in the most rugged and dangerous of war zones.
Engineers from the US Army's Tank Automotive Research
Development and Engineering Center and the US Department of
the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation set up the purification
system on the beach. They dropped a hose into the ocean and,
within hours, the purification system was converting seawater
into clean drinking water for the hospital.
Koch's system worked at the site for slightly more
than a month, until the area's municipal infrastructure
could again deliver potable water. During its service, the
system produced more than 1 million gallons of clean water
for use in the Biloxi hospital.
This is just one example of how onsite treatment officials
have made a difference in the Gulf region. And it's
undoubtedly not going to be the last.
"We're doing what we can down here," says
Frantom. "Some people think this is going to be a great
boon for business for companies like ours. But we've
not hit a home run with this. It's a good feeling for
us to try and help them out as much as we can, to help get
the ball rolling on getting back to a sense of normalcy. We
won't see that normalcy, though, for two to three years.
There's been such widespread damage. You drive for miles
here and everything has been torn up."
DAN RAFTER is a technical writer based
in Chesterton, IN.
OW - January/February 2006
|
