Keeping freshwater clean starts at source. Essentially every toilet or kitchen sink is a spring within the catchment, flowing down to our percolation area or town sewer and on to our local river. The aim is to keep these springs as clean as possible; or at least to filter them if they get polluted by use within our homes. Many conventional sewage treatment methods offer excellent filtration properties, but can be expensive and energy intensive to implement and maintain. Nature Based Solutions such as reed beds, wetlands and willow systems can be used for treatment of domestic septic tank effluent…
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First published in Horticulture Connected on August 24, 2023 Mopping up sewage pollution, sequestering carbon and promoting biodiversity – willow wastewater systems are the solution we need for one-off houses in the countryside. WORDS: Féidhlim Harty. We seem to be on a whole suite of collision courses, including housing, climate, biodiversity and water pollution. Many young people in rural areas are looking at family land, with no prospect of being allowed to build due to poor soil percolation characteristics. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Code of Practice: Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems is a government guidance document. It outlines methods…
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The following downloadable document is a pdf of an article on sewage treatment written in 2019 for Permaculature Magazine entitled: “Cleaning Effluent with Plants – Feidhlim Harty explains how to clean up household effluent with willow in special percolation areas rather than wasting nutrients and polluting groundwater.”