RV waste disposal into septic tank

[calengineer123]

Hello,


I am designing an onsite septic treatment system in a remote area. Part of the project site will be home to several recreational vehicles (RVs). The problem I am facing is the RV waste that would enter into the septic tanks. I've read that the chemicals used to deodorize the waste tanks in RVs are detrimental to the successful treatment. Has anyone come across this or successfully designed a system that specifically handled RV wastes? Is there any literature or links that you could point me in?

I appreciate any feedback you may have.

Thanks

 

[civilperson]

Rest areas on interstate highways with sanitary disposal stations are commonly either sewage lagoons or septic systems. The restrooms are included in the loading. See your DOT for details.

 

[tjkall]

What type of treatment system are you designing and what is the design organic loading and hydraulic of that system? Will these be transient RV's or more or less permanent? Do you have discharge requirements to meet? Are you in a cold climate or a warm one? High elevation or sea level? What other facilities/sources will be served by the treatment system? What type of discharge are you proposing, soil, surface water, land application? Is the client well funded or under-funded? Is it a "high class" rv park or is it cheap housing?

All these questions and many more must be considered in order to get focus on the design constraints.

 

[truroca]

There are now much better (less harmful) chems on the market. If the owner of the park will have complete control of the RV's it may be wise to make system/environment friendly products mandatory.

 

[FiltrationEngineer]

I recently worked on a pilot study testing an activated sludge system on RV waste - primarily because the existing septic system for the RV waste are failing. We were able to achieve good treatment with activated sludge.

Toxicity levels in RV waste weren't high enough to prevent biological treatment. I think the septic systems were failing because they weren't designed for the high strength waste that RV's produce.

I would use BOD of 5000 mg/L and and ammonia concentration of 700 mg/L, or around 25 times the strength of typical domestic wastewater for design.

 

[GameNparksEngr]

I've designed these systems, plus operate many more. Nebraska DEQ no longer allows septic tank with adsorption fields on RV dump stations because you can not guarantee the use of “safe” chemicals in the RV tanks. Complete retention lagoons, or treatment and monitoring of the waste is the current option for us. I’m starting the design of a replacement dump station that will use an engineered wetland treatment system.