Onsite sewage facility

Onsite sewage facilities (OSSF) (also spelled on-site) are wastewater systems designed to treat and dispose of effluent on the same property that produces the wastewater. Onsite sewage facilities (OSSF) (also spelled on-site) are wastewater systems designed to treat and dispose of effluent on the same property that produces the wastewater. A septic tank and drainfield combination is a fairly common type of on-site sewage facility in the US. OSSFs account for approximately 25% of all domestic wastewater treatment in the US. Onsite sewage facilities may also be based on small-scale aerobic and biofilter units, membrane bioreactors or sequencing batch reactors. These can be thought of as scaled down versions of municipal sewage treatment plants, and are also known as 'package plants.' The primary mechanism of biological waste recycling in the natural environment is performed by other organisms such as animals, insects, soil microorganisms, plants, and fungi, which consume all available nutrients in the waste, leaving behind fully decomposed solids that become part of topsoil, and pure drinking water that has been stripped of everything that can possibly be consumed and utilized. This natural biological purification requires time and space to process wastes. In virtually all engineered onsite sewage facilities, recycling and decomposition by natural organisms is still the primary mechanism of sewage disposal. Giving the organisms the time they need to decompose wastes is accomplished by establishing minimum sewage retention and settling times, and minimum liquid flow distances between sewage disposal sites and surface water or water wells. It is normal for animals such as mice, rats, flies, and parasites to participate in the fully natural biological waste recycling process. Engineered facilities typically attempt to exclude them to prevent out of control population explosions and infestation, and prevent spread of vermin and disease. Although the solids collected by onsite sewage facilities can potentially be used as compost to build topsoil, these solids are often incompletely decomposed due to either a lack of onsite storage space to wait for decomposition (municipal facilities), or because the solids are being stacked in a layered structure of new waste solids on top of previously decomposed solids (septic tanks and outhouses). Due to the incomplete state of decomposition, when removed from an onsite sewage facility, these solids are typically referred to as sludge rather than compost, and have powerful offensive odors arising from the microorganisms still consuming nutrients in the sludge. Engineered facilities that use water suspension to transport solids (private septic systems and municipal facilities) typically form a floating layer in their primary settling tank, consisting of low-density liquids such as oils, buoyant solids, and soap foam. This is referred to as scum and is slowly decomposed by microorganisms, eventually falling to the bottom of the settling tank as part of the sludge. When private septic tanks are emptied of solids, the tank is typically vacuumed empty and the incompletely digested scum is added to the incompletely digested sludge, further adding to its aroma and bioactivity.