This year Wastewater Treatment put together a preliminary design for our “downcycling” water collection and treatment system. Rainwater will be harvested from the roof, treated in a gravity filter, and supplied to faucets, a living wall, and to flush composting toilets. The filter and cistern for storing rainwater can be located on either the top or ground floor of the SRF, as space requires. Water will be pumped up to sinks and toilets as needed and then gravity-fed through the system.
This semester, our rainwater team calculated the volume of water we could collect from our current roof design, and how much of this water we could store given space limitations. They proposed an ideal cistern size, a method of diverting excess stormwater, and an ejector pump to distribute water to the facility. They also drafted an initial cost analysis of the rainwater harvesting system.
Our greywater team selected a preferred pretreatment gravity filter that operates without electricity, is easily maintained, and can be sized to fit the final SRF design. They chose a living wall as one way to dispose of excess treated greywater, and are researching other methods such as bioswales and leaching chambers.
Blackwater selected a preferred composting toilet system that uses 97% less water than a conventional low-flush toilet and contacted the manufacturer for product information. They have begun researching permits and methods of liquid end product disposal such as leach fields or retreatment. They also worked on a consulting project with the Hoffman Challenge Course at Mt. Pleasant, which wished to replace port-a-potties with more environmentally friendly composting toilets.
Check out the final presentation here!
