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Designs for Waterless & Low Water Septic Systems & Toilets & Greywater Systems
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This chapter provides information about waterless & low water septic systems, waterless toilets, chemical toilets, incinerating toilets, holding tanks, disinfection septic systems, & greywater systems. This document also has links to septic design engineers, advanced septic system products and books. Our site offers impartial, unbiased advice without conflicts of interest. We will block advertisements which we discover or readers inform us are associated with bad business practices, false-advertising, or junk science. Our contact info is at inspect-ny.com/appointment.htm.

Examples of advanced septic designs include aerobic septic systems, chemical, composting, incinerating & waterless toilets, evaporation-transpiration (ET) septic systems, septic media filters, greywater systems, holding tank septic systems, mound septics, raised bed septics, pressure dosing septic systems, sand bed filters, peat beds, constructed wetlands, and septic disinfection systems. Waterless toilets, low-water toilets, holding tanks, and graywater systems are alternative designs for sites where a septic system can't be installed or where water is in limited supply or not available at all.

Alternative onsite wastewater disposal systems can reduce the soil absorption area or leach field size requirement substantially and can in fact in some cases reduce the needed area to zero. For problem sites where space or soil conditions make it difficult to install a conventional leach field these designs are very important alternatives. Alternative Septic System Designs for wet sites, steep sites, rocky sites, limited space, and other difficult site conditions. Consultants in this field can be listed at our alternative septic designers page at no charge by contacting me. Also see The Septic System Information Website. Massachusetts Title 5 Licensed Septic System Inspector, & New York State H.I. License # 16000005303. © Copyright 2008 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links at left show where you are in our document & website.

Buyers Guide to Waterless & Low Water Septic Systems & Toilets & Greywater Systems

General Categories of Onsite Residential Wastewater Treatment Systems

Because various texts provide so many different views of categorizing wastewater systems, I've made this simple list which groups wastewater treatment systems into a few major categories:

(1) conventional septic tank and drainfields using native soils for effluent absorption and treatment

(2) raised bed and septic mound systems which take a similar approach but have to bring in fill to treat effluent

(3) various types of advanced material media filtration systems (sand beds, filter beds, synthetic textile filters, foam media filters including above-ground self-contained systems)

(4) aerobic septic systems which insert additional oxygen into and agitate sewage in the primary treatment tank

(5) waterless and low-water and greywater-separation systems, which may not really treat effluent, may not discharge anything into the environment, but which form another set of alternative designs where water supply or land use restrictions mean that a conventional system is not permitted.

Adding to the complexity of what to call various septic systems, there are also categories of methods of septic effluent dispersal such as gravity-fed, trickle-down, pressure dispersal, sprinkler dispersal, and intermittent effluent dosing systems which use gravity or pressure.

In case this is not enough, there are also various levels of degree of treatment of septic effluent achieved by different versions of these systems. So you may read about more than one type of pressure-dosing filter bed system which look a lot alike but which achieve different degrees of effluent treatment.

Keeping these general categories in mind when reviewing various off-the-shelf packaged systems or wastewater treatment systems with interesting but non-descriptive names (like the "magic bullet treatment box") will help you to understand the general approach which has been taken. Further reading will be needed to understand the installation cost, maintenance cost, and level of management required of each type of septic system.

Each of the links below presents a document with more in-depth information about each of these alternative septic system designs.

• Chemical Toilets: use a chemically treated reservoir located directly below the toilet seat. The chemicals reduce odors and perform partial (incomplete) disinfection of the waste. Chemical toilets have limited storage capacity and must be pumped and periodically cleaned by a septic company. Similar to simple chemical toilets but more sophisticated in design are recirculating toilets which separate the waste from the chemical and then re circulate the fluid through the toilet tank.
  
  
• Composting Toilets: may be used where the water supply is limited or not available at all, or where a building owner for other reasons wishes to conserve water use. Other wastewater treatment will still be required for handling graywater from sinks and showers.
  
  
• Disinfection Septic Systems: use chlorination or ultraviolet light (UV) to disinfect wastewater effluent before it is discharged to the environment.
  
  
• Drip Dispersal septic tank effluent systems - (Jantrania/Gross wastewater system type III or if treated to level 2 or better effluent, Jantrania/Gross wastewater system type VII)
  
  
• Greywater Septic Systems: refer to systems which reduce the liquid effluent load on a septic system by separating greywater (or graywater) from sinks and showers from blackwater (black water) from toilets. When we inspect a home which uses a separate drywell to handle greywater we presume that the owners discovered that their septic system, or at least its leach field, was of limited capacity or life.
  
  
• Holding Tank Septic Systems: use a sealed tank to hold household waste and wastewater until the tank can be pumped out by a septic pumping company. Most jurisdictions do not permit septic holding tanks as a permanent wastewater handling method for full-time occupied residences, but holding tanks may be permitted during new home construction and in other special cases. In New York State we've seen holding tank systems in use on small-lot properties located along the Hudson River. Generally such systems will not be acceptable for full time occupied residences as even a large tank of several thousand gallons will require frequent and costly pumping and disposal.
  
  
• Incinerator Toilet Septic Systems: incinerator toilets use electricity or gas to burn the waste placed into these systems. Like chemical toilets and holding tanks they have limited capacity, are used where water is not available or must be conserved, and they do not address the handling of remaining graywater from sinks and showers. My favorite of this type was the "Destroylet" incinerator toilet which was electric/propane fueled and which is no longer on the market. Each flush resulted in a more than 10-minute burn cycle which produced a pretty smelly exhaust.
  
  
• Waterless toilets, low water toilets, and graywater systems: for a detailed discussion of each toilet type, see the various toilet types and greywater/graywater links shown above on this page and re-listed below. (Jantrania/Gross considers this option "Wastewater System Type IV").
  A product source for low-water toilets is LetsgoGreen 1-pint flush toilets.
  Also see Chemical Toilets, and Composting Toilets, and Greywater Systems, and Incinerator Toilets.
  
  
  Product submissions are welcome Contact Us

The Septic Systems Online Book - Where Are We?

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