Waste Water

Our use of water often leaves it contaminated with everything from road salt to chemicals to fecal matter. Cleaning up the water before it re-enters the environment can make a significant difference to water quality in both surface water and groundwater.

Septic systems are used on thousands of rural properties to treat household water and human waste. Proper installation and regular maintenance are essential to avoiding leaching of effluent. Urban areas have sewer pipes that collect the waste water and send it to a treatment facility. Unfortunately, even advanced technology cannot remove many of the chemicals from the water.

Precipitation and snowmelt can mobilize chemicals and waste into runoff. In urban areas, storm sewers are designed to carry the water off to nearby watercourses. However, a large proportion of sewer systems do not have mechanisms to separate out debris and waste before the water pours out the pipe into the river.