What is De-Nitrification?
Denitrification is - quite simply - the removal or reduction of nitrates from the waste stream, that is discharged from the onsite treatment unit.
But wait, I thought it was only the sewage strength that was an issue, with ground systems only needing values below 140 mg/L BOD, right?
Well, kind of. The Federal Clean Water Act also spelled out the end product of how clean streams must be. One of the biggest issues in streams is not only the fecal coliform levels, but also the nitrogen in the water.
Not a chemist? Well, if you've ever fertilized your yard, you buy fertilizer that "feeds" the grass. The three numbers on the bag are, in order, nitrogen - phosphorous - potash. The higher the first number, the greener your grass gets.
But nitrogen in wastewater effluent is an issue, because it results in algae blooms in waterways. This is not a good thing.
Soon (very soon), State regulations are going to require the reduction of nitrogen in wastewater. Some cities are already requiring this be addressed in the design on onsite, or septic, systems. Any permit over 5,000 gpd must address this issue in the overall treatment process. We know how to do this very thing, with an overall system design.
Contact us for more information on how we design for this.
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