Researchers Claim New Tech Will Cut Nitrogen In Groundwater

An emerging technology may significantly cut nitrogen released into groundwater by residential septic systems, helping protect waterways from algal blooms as water managers across the country struggle against toxic algae crises.

The hope is that new treatment technologies can “cut nitrogen inputs into local waters and stanch decades of proliferating algae blooms that have wiped out marine vegetation and shellfish species and forced closures of beaches and pond waters to human use,” 27 East reported.

“With as many as 3.5 million homes around the country employing individual septic systems that do not treat wastewater sufficiently to meet clean water standards, the long-game potential for affordable new technologies could be over $1 billion a year for decades to come,” the report said.

Researchers at Stony Brook University are still testing the technology, a new kind of septic system that can be installed at residences for less than $10,000, according to 27 East. The scientists are part of the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology, based at the university.

Researchers are “focusing their early testing on employ grids of piping laid just beneath the surface of a home’s lawn. The pipes release wastewater into the ground across a broad area, allowing it to trickle down through layers of a sand-and-wood pulp mixture designed to filter out the bulk of nitrogen in human waste,” the report said.

The system relies on gravity and natural chemical reactions to “neutralize” nitrogen, according to the report. Additional designs are being tested.

The center’s initial goal was to slash nitrogen released from residential septic systems to 10 ppb or less, lowering it from 40 or 50 ppb. Early tests achieved as much as a 95 percent reduction in wastewater, according to Christopher Gobler, the center’s co-director, per the report. The second goal was to make the system affordable.

Jennifer Garvey, the center’s associate director, framed septic replacement as an eventual cost-saver.

“Our problem is big enough that there must be an opportunity to be harnessed,” she said, per the report. “The cost of replacement pales in comparison to the costs of doing nothing.”

Researchers at the center are considering other nitrogen-removal avenues, as well, including urine separation and “super-fine cellulose membranes to filter out nitrogen in on-site septic treatment systems,” the report said.

Algal blooms are a thorn in the side of water managers across the country. Utah County, for instance, shut a section of the Jordan River this month as a result of harmful algae, KUTV reported. And toxic algae shutdown beaches and businesses in Florida this summer, The New York Times reported.

“The mess in Florida is only the latest in a string of algal blooms that some experts believe are increasing in frequency and in severity. An immense plume of blue-green algae last September covered a 636-mile stretch of the Ohio River. A month earlier, the city of Toledo, Ohio, warned more than 400,000 residents to avoid drinking tap water after toxic algae spread over an intake in Lake Erie. Indeed, the Lake Erie bloom is now an annual event,” the report said.

To read more about preventing algae bloom visit Water Online’s Nutrient Removal Solutions Center.