LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. \u2014 USF students are working with ACE Septic & Waste to test more affordable ways to remove pollutants from septic wastewater, a challenge experts say is important for protecting Florida\u2019s springs and waterways.<\/p>\n
Nearly 30% of Florida households rely on septic systems for wastewater disposal, amounting to about 2.6 million septic tanks across the state. Conventional septic systems do not remove most nitrogen from wastewater, allowing it to reach groundwater and contribute to pollution.<\/p>\n
Greg Mayfield of ACE Septic & Waste said extending public sewer lines to older neighborhoods can be costly.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have subdivisions that were built out in the 50s, 60s and 70s. To run sewer to those locations is very, very expensive,\u201d Mayfield said. \u201cSometimes $100,000 a lot. So we can do treatment on lot and on site for a quarter of that price.\u201d<\/p>\n
ACE Septic & Waste runs a clean water initiative and installs eco-friendly, state-approved nitrogen-reducing biofilters. The company is also helping USF researchers test systems in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe provide some technical background with them and actually some boots on the ground, so they can actually test some of their systems,\u201d Mayfield said.<\/p>\n
At USF, Dr. Sarina Ergas and her students are studying materials that could help wastewater treatment systems remove pollutants without making them too expensive for homeowners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work we\u2019re doing now, we\u2019re using a natural zeolite mineral that\u2019s mined in the southwest. We\u2019re also using crushed oyster shells, which are a waste product, and we\u2019re using biochar in that research,\u201d Ergas said.<\/p>\n
Ergas said crushed oyster shells and zeolite minerals are already showing results. Each has produced a 50% increase in nitrification, which researchers say indicates improvement in removal.<\/p>\n
Student Andrew Easterling is working on a mathematical model to help guide future designs.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy area is in developing a mathematical model for the system to try to help make decisions about how the system is designed and optimize treatment in the future,\u201d Easterling said.<\/p>\n
Kwabena Darko Okyere said the research builds on work done by previous students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve learned a lot from our previous students, right? So the research we\u2019ve done, you see what we\u2019ve done and we\u2019re trying to improve it,\u201d Darko Okyere said.<\/p>\n
Ergas said past students used scrap tire chips and elemental sulfur in one study that removed 80% of nitrogen.<\/p>\n
USF Professor of Urban Hydrology Mahmood Nachabe said septic systems can create particular challenges in environmentally sensitive areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge is when you go to rural areas and when you put those septic systems in sensitive ecosystems, like spring sheds that feed our springs, you know, this is where it becomes very delicate,\u201d Nachabe said.<\/p>\n
Ergas said students continue to bring new ideas to the work.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of my best research has come from my students. We work together,\u201d Ergas said. \u201cMy students are coming with new, fresh ideas, and eventually I want my students to get to the point where they actually know more than me and they can start telling me when I\u2019m wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. \u2014 USF students are working with ACE Septic & Waste to test more affordable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[115438,115,1338,135,137,136,835],"class_list":["post-422715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-justina-rhines","tag-news","tag-pasco-county","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}