Sans Souci Beach
Resort & Estates will design a drain water system, operated and controlled
through the construction of various small and maximum 1.2 meter deep catch
water basins or lagoons. Storm water will be collected and filtered through
the lagoons and the Living Machine
and reused for landscaping and janitorial facilities in the resort. Additionally
the controlled release of water into the ocean will help balance the salinity.
Project Schedule
Two areas of
sets of lagoons will be constructed to store storm water from the drainage
canals and the natural drainage of the property. This will prevent surface
water run-off and other water discharge from the subdivision to directly
empty into the open sea and pollute the beach area. In this way, water
will be utilized to the fullest by recycling and naturally treated before
discharging to the open sea for its needed fresh water intake to maintain
its salinity. These lagoons will serve as a fishpond, small water falls,
and irrigation for the landscape.
WHAT
IS A LIVING MACHINE?
A Living Machine TM
is an effective and economical system for biological treatment of sewage
and high strength industrial wastewater.
Living Machines
incorporate and accelerate the processes nature uses to purify water.
With the help of sunlight and a managed environment, a diversity of organisms
including bacteria, plants, snails and fish break down and digest organic
pollutants. Depending
on the climate, Living Machines can be housed in a protective greenhouse,
under light shelter or in the open air. Finished water from a Living Machine
is clean enough for re-use applications such as irrigation or toilet flush
water.
Dr. John Todd,
an internationally recognized biologist now with Ocean Arks International,
pioneered the development of Living Machines. For this work, Dr. Todd
has been awarded the Chico Mendes Memorial Award from the U.S. EPA in
1989, the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Award from the White House in 1990,
the Discover Award for Technological Innovation in 1991, the Chrysler
Award for Industrial Design in 1994, and in 1996, the Environmental Merit
Award from the U.S. EPA.
BENEFITS OF THE
LIVING MACHINE
Living Machines
effectively treat both sewage and high strength organic waste. Applications
include:
pre-treatment
of industrial waste to eliminate sewer surcharges;
advanced treatment to recycle wastewater for irrigation, aqua culture,
toilet flushing, truck washing and other uses;
treatment for municipalities, developments, resorts and industrial parks;
and on-site sludge treatment.
Advantages of
a Living Machine include:
Living Machines
enable customers to recycle treated water or discharge to the environment.
Clients realize significant annual cost savings by eliminating sewer surcharges,
minimizing sludge disposal costs and reducing water purchases;
Living Machines
are biologically diverse and can treat a wide variety of waste streams.
They are naturally resistant to drastic changes or "shock loads" in the
waste stream. Operators enjoy ease of operation and highly reliable treatment
performance;
Sludge handling
and disposal expenses are significantly lower than for conventional technologies.
In Living Machines, sludge is consumed in the process, greatly reducing
sludge quantity compared with conventional biological treatment. Optional
on-site sludge composting with reed beds minimizes sludge handling costs;
Particularly
for higher-strength waste streams that require treatment to re-use standards,
Living Machines typically offer lower initial capital costs and lower
annual operating costs than conventional alternatives. They can also be
designed to accommodate ready expansion in future years. This allows owners
to match capital outlays with the growth of the business or community;
Living Machines
are beautiful by nature and environmentally restorative by function. They
are inspiring examples of natural systems for pollution control and industrial
ecology.
Following an
initial site visit and conceptual proposal with estimated costing, Living
Technologies provides preliminary engineering, permitting assistance,
final engineering, construction on a fixed-price basis, biological ramp-up,
operator training and on-going operations support. Living Technologies
can also operate installed systems on a contract basis.
The Living Machine
at Sans Souci Beach Resort & Estates can be similar to the one operating
at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland. A green house is likely not necessary
in the climate conditions of the Philippines.
On the 13th of
October 1995 Jonathan Porritt opened Europe's first Living Machine at
the Findhorn Foundation. This ecologically engineered sewage treatment
plant is treating sewage from 330 people living at the Findhorn Foundation
and is providing a research and educational facility to develop this technology
throughout Europe.
Living Machines
treat wastewater based on a 'whole systems' approach to biological technology.
They utilize a set of sequenced, complete ecologies. Treatment can be
taken to advanced standards in cost effective projects which are reliable,
robust and aesthetically pleasing. The approach represents a shift from
high energy, chemically intensive treatment, to the adoption of the principles
of ecological engineering.
Diverse communities
of bacteria, algae, micro-organisms, numerous species of plants and trees,
snails, fish and other living creatures interact as whole ecologies in
tanks and bio-filters. Depending on the climate, Living Machines can be
located outdoors, in protective greenhouses, or under light shelter.
In the Living
Machine system, raw sewage and "grey" water arrive in a greenhouse containing
a series of tanks. These contain species which break down the sewage naturally
as it moves through the tanks. In many systems, there are by-products
of fish and plants being produced that can then be sold. Living Machines
mirror processes that occur in the natural world, but more intensively.
At the end of the series of tanks, the resulting water is pure enough
to discharge directly into the sea or to be recycled. The technology is
not only capable of meeting tough new sewage outflow standards, but uses
no chemicals, and has a relatively inexpensive capital cost attached.
Current industrial
projects in North America involve the re-use of the treated wastewater
for non-drinking uses within production facilities. These uses include
washing, irrigation, boiler make-up, etc.
The research
behind this technology has been carried by Dr. John Todd, an eminent Canadian
biologist, through the non-profit research organization - Ocean Arks International
of Falmouth, Massachusetts. For his work in pioneering the development
of Living Machines, Dr. Todd has received a number of honors including
the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Award from the White House in 1990,
and the Chrysler Award for Industrial Design in 1994.
PERFORMANCE
This will vary
according to circumstances. At Findhorn for example, the objective is
to treat sewage to advanced wastewater treatment (tertiary) standards.
The following table provides information on the influent and effluent
of the Living Machine at Findhorn at present
1.BOD before
treatment is 250 mg/l after less than10 mg/l
2.TSS before treatment160 mg/l after less than 10 mg/l
3.TKN before treatment 40 mg/l after less than10 mg/l
4.NH4 before treatment 50 mg/l after less than 2 mg/l
5.NO3 before treatment 0 mg/l after less than 5 mg/l
6.TP before treatment 7 mg/l after less than 5 mg/l
1. BOD = Biological
Oxygen Demand, (the oxygen being consumed by the wastewater)
2. TSS = Total Suspended Solids (the level of solids suspended in the
water)
3. TKN = A measure of the nitrogen level in the water
4. NH4 = Ammonia levels in the water
5. NO3 = Levels of nitrate in the water. The system converts ammonia into
nitrates and then to nitrogen gas
6. TP = Total phosphorous levels
DESIGN
Again using the
Findhorn example, the Living Machine is housed in a single-span greenhouse,
approximately 10 Meters (M) wide by 30 M long. The flow is coming from
the Park at Findhorn with a loading of approximately 330 person equivalents.
In other words about 65m3 waste water per day.
Anaerobic Primary
The first component
of the treatment process is 3 anaerobic bioreactors buried outside the
greenhouse. The function of this component is to reduce significantly
the organic material and inorganic solids in the wastewater. During operation,
no oxygen will be present in the wastewater, promoting the growth of anaerobic
and facultative bacterial populations.
Closed Aerobic
Reactor
Effluent from
the anaerobic primary, flows into an closed aerobic tank in the greenhouse.
Gases from the closed aerobic, pass through an filter system to eliminate
odors.
Open Aerobic
Reactors
The four aerobic
tanks have diaphragm aerators and are planted with plant species with
large root masses on floating plant racks. The BOD and TSS is reduced
at this stage and ammonia nitrified.
The primary function
of the plants is to provide favorable environments for enhanced microbial
activity. Secondary functions include nutrient removal, metal sequestering,
pathogen destruction and some control of gas exchanges. The main objective
is to have a healthy and diverse sequence of ecosystems present. The wide
variety of plant species filling ecological niches in the system is a
key to the robust nature of natural treatment systems. The ecological
network of species creates internal biological redundancies compared with
a purely microbial system, or a mono culture duckweed system. This gives
the potential for improved efficiency and greater resilience.
The Clarifiers
After the aerobic
tanks, a clarifier settles solids which are returned to the anaerobic
primary. In those tanks you may see tiny water creatures such as Cyclops
living in the water. They perform an important part in both treatment
and creating a complex food chain
The Ecological
Fluidized Beds
The three Ecological
Fluidized Beds in each train are filled with light rock media. For aerobic
operation, air lift pumps raise the water from the bottom of the fluidized
bed to the surface, where the water flows down through the bed. Recycle
rates can be varied up to 100 times the flow rate through the component.
The aerobic operation
provides reductions in BOD and TSS and nitrification. For the anaerobic
operation of the fluidized beds for denitrification, mechanical pumps
circulate water up through the bed. The fluidized beds are planted and
benthic animals graze the
surface.
The dissolved
oxygen level in the wastewater is close to zero after the clarifier. The
first fluidized beds are run anaerobically for denitrify. The second fluidized
bed is run aerobically using air lift pumps to further nitrify any remaining
ammonia in the waste
stream. The third and final fluidized bed is run anaerobically for final
denitrification and polishing.
The underlying
concept behind the design, involves rapid flows of water by recycling
through the media filled zones. The key attributes of an Ecological Fluidized
Bed are:
Stable high surface
area micro-environment sites for bacteria.
Ultra rapid exchanges across biological surfaces.
Direct NH4/NO3 uptake.
Nitrification and denitrification cycles.
The support of higher plant life and root systems within the media and
in the aquatic environments.
Self-cleaning.
The biology is
managed as a balanced ecosystem. The levels of dissolved oxygen, and carbon
to nitrogen ratios, as well as recycle rates and bioaugmentation, are
adjusted with the overall objective of reducing levels of BOD, ammonia,
total nitrogen, fecal coliform and solids.
The Greenhouse
The greenhouse
is built from a galvanized steel frame, clad in high performance glazing.
The walls are 10 mm polycarbonate. The roof is composed of high light
transmission panels, with good thermal efficiency.
THE FINDHORN
FOUNDATION LIVING MACHINE PROJECT
The Living Machine
is designed to treat approximately 65 M3/day in an aesthetically pleasing
greenhouse. The scale of the components provides data and operating experience
to wastewater treatment professionals and engineers, which will demonstrate
that cost effective and reliable treatment can be provided by Living Machine
technology.
This is a new
means of treating domestic and industrial sewage, using biologically and
environmentally sound methods to a higher standard than current EC standards.
A Living Machine builds on the reed bed principle, but accelerates the
process and uses
considerably less land, as the facility is totally enclosed in a large
greenhouse. As a pioneering pilot project, this facility is collecting
data in order to satisfy local and national government bodies that such
technology can be fully adopted in the UK. Local water and river authorities
are supporting the project, as are Scottish Natural Heritage.
The Findhorn
Foundation is already major educational center which regularly hosts visitors
from throughout the UK and overseas, therefore the establishment of such
a treatment facility here will allow the technology to be seen and experienced
by a wide variety of people.
Half of the funding
for the project has been provided by the European Regional Development
Fund, under the Highlands and Islands Objective 1 Program (1994-1999).
Funds have also been provided in grants and donations from Gaia Villages
Trust, Denmark; The Paul Trust, Glasgow; The Lyndhurst Settlement, London.
There are 20
Living Machines currently operating and/or in design. They include:
Location - Waste
- Flow (gallons per day) - Year of construction
Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island - Sewage - 16,000gpd - 1989
Paws Inc., Indiana - Sewage - 3,000 gpd - 1990
The Body Shop, Toronto - Sewage - 3,000gpd - 1993
Ballanger Creek, Maryland - Sewage - 50,000gpd - 1993
City of San Francisco, CA - Sewage - 50,000gpd - 1994
Audobon Society, Florida - Sewage - 7,500gpd - 1994
Wyong, NSW, Australia - Industrial Wastewater - 200,000gpd - 1995
Henderson Foods, Nevada - Industrial Wastewater - 32,000gpd - 1995
Findhorn, Scotland - Sewage - 18,000gpd - 1995
The Body Shop,U.K - Production Wastewater - 13,000gpd - 1996
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