Alternative Waste Treatment
Could Influence Ohio’s Development
COLUMBUS, Ohio Small
communities and subdivisions
may no longer have to contract
with a nearby municipality to con
nect to its sewage system for
waste treatment.
Alternative waste treatment that
relies on constructed wetlands and
other natural methods could show
developing communities to man
age their own sewage, said Mi
chael Ogden, a registered profes
sional engineer and president of
South West Wetlands Group, a
cmopany that specializes in de
signing alternative waste water
treatment systems.
“ This is a hot political issus be
cause it causes debate over who’s
going to control development sur
rounding a city, either die munici
pality with its centralized sewage
system or the surrounding town
ships using alternative systems,"
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Ogden said.
Ogden is one of several partici
pants who will discuss die pros
and cons of small community
waste-water treatment technology
and centralized versus decentral
ized sewage treatment at the up
coming statewide conference,
“Better Ways to Develop Ohio,”
June 24-25, at the Columbus
Athenaeum in Columbus. He will
speak at a breakout session from
8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on June 25.
The conference will address issues
such as how Ohio should grow,
where it should grow, and who
pays for that growth.
Traditionally, waste-water
treatment and disposal for small
communities and subdivisions
have been handled by running
sewer interceptors out from a
nearby municipality. This caused
the growth of these areas to be die-
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tated by where the sewer line
went, Ogden said. Choosing an al
ternative system would give the
surrounding areas more control
over their growth.
“It doesn’t have to be the way it
has been. Now communities have
a choice,” he said. “With a small
community waste-water treatment
system, you need not rely cm the
big city’s ability to fund and estab
lish sewer lines, and the operating
costs of the alternative systems are
only about 10 percent of the cost
of municipal treatment.”
With alternative waste treat
ment systems, sewage is initially
collected at each home or building
in what’s called an interceptor
tank. The tanks filter most of the
organic solids and all other trash
from the waste water. Water goes
to the treatment system via a small
firesfone
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diameter sewer system. The waste
water then flows through a con
structed wetland or some other na
tural filter where the remaining or
ganice solids are removed. The
treated water, which only contains
a small amount of nitrogen, is then
applied to golf courses, farmland,
prairies, woodlands or some other
land area for final treatment.
But the alternative systems do
raise some concerns.
The new systems could allow
major urban-type development to
occur in rural areas that don’t have
the services to support them, said
Bill Habig, executive director of
Penn State
(Continued from Page A 26)
latest information and problem
solving capabilities"
The drawbacks, he says,
include bigger travel budgets, and
a more urgent need for good
communication
"With staff members spending
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 5, IM6-A27
the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning
Commission and the session’s
moderator.
Conference registration is $B5
for both days if you register before
June 18 and $lOO if you register
after that date. Breaks and lunch
are included in the registration
cost For more information, con
tact Molly Bean at (614)
292-6962. Or you can obtain con
ference information over the Inter
net (http?//www2.ag.ohio-state.
edu/-landuse/conference/).
Extension
a high portion ot their time out in
the field," he adds,
"communication links and being
able to reach people is critical and
tough
"It's no longer a one-phone-call
or one-stop-shopping relationship
Farmers have to get to know more
than one person "