ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on many different scientifically proven ways to treat wastewater that improve greatly on common practice. It provides insight into many lesser-known but viable approaches to dealing with sewage treatment, while recognizing the scarcity of factual information in the hands of local decision makers and the incomplete understanding among municipal and county officials about reliable alternatives to standard individual septic systems. The technical details that most frequently dominate discussions of creatively designed development proposals in unsewered areas involve the treatment and disposal of human wastes. This sensible design approach is permitted almost everywhere for community drainfields serving multiple dwellings but is rarely permitted for individual drainfields serving individual homes, which is illogical. When combined with conservation subdivision design, effluent drains can help resolve current sewage treatment problems, preserve open space, and lower costs. Principal concerns expressed about community systems involve their ongoing monitoring, management, and maintenance.
