Liquid Only Pressure Sewer – A STEP in the Right Direction

Join us for a FREE live webinar hosted by Infiltrator Water Technologies featuring members of our team. Please note all webinar times are Eastern Standard time.

Liquid Only Sewer (LOS) have origins in Florida from the early 1970’s when it was rudimentary, composed of common septic tanks and an unscreened centrifugal effluent pump elevated in the tank on a cinder block. Today’s LOS system includes multi-stage turbine pumps, dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), and ProSTEP polypropylene tanks, passively self-cleaning filters, plug-and-play electrical and control connections, and remote monitoring capabilities. LOS conveys only liquids from wastewater sources. An onsite processor retains solids and scum at the source and provides passive, low-cost primary treatment prior to conveyance.  Resulting reduced wastewater strength (140 mg/L BOD5 and 40 mg/L TSS) can be leveraged to reduce the capital and operating costs for wastewater treatment and effluent disposal. Without solids in the wastewater, the renowned Orenco pumps can be combined with small diameter pressure mains to service large communities without the need for lift stations. There’s no infiltration and inflow concerns. Like water mains, the lines can be looped for redundancy. At the wastewater treatment plant, no headworks are required while aeration basins, blowers, clarifiers, and digesters can be downsized. Using an LOS approach, the treatment plant will use less energy and produce less biosolids by volume. Liquid Only Sewer is an underutilized, viable, and proven technology.

Speaker Biography

Hugh Mickel, Senior Engineered Systems Consultant 

Hugh B. Mickel, P.E. is the Senior Engineered Systems Consultant for Infiltrator Water Technologies and resides in Columbus, IN.  He earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University and is a registered Professional Engineer since 1990. Infiltrator Water is a major manufacturer of wastewater collection, treatment and dispersal systems, and is part of the Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. family of companies, as is Orenco Systems who began manufacturing STEP systems in the 1980’s.