Fun fact (?): The Thames being so gross is one of the reasons modern sewage treatment took off. One of the main tests is designed based on the behavior of the Thames: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/labCert/BODAbout.html
Well I was thinking there’s a big difference between what is safe to release into the environment (solids removed, UV treated to kill germs, maybe some other stuff) vs safe drinking water. But I guess waste water is mostly just water - not mostly urine. So maybe it’s not as big of a gap as I assumed. After all, they pump water in from rivers and lakes for filtering and treatment before putting it in the pipes, maybe it isn’t that big of a difference after all?
A lot of people don’t realize outside sewers and cities, septic systems are a thing and all the sewage goes to a tank that drains out into a patch of soil. A hundred feet/30 meters and usually even a wellhead is considered at a safe range.
Soils do a lot of biological treatment just as the enzymes and bacteria in septic tanks break down and dissolve solids.
UV disinfection and other treatment of sewage on-site is only common in areas with high water tables or proximity to waterbodies under that 100ft/30 meter range.
The majority of modern wastewater comes from other fixtures for laundry, showers, and the kitchen. Toilet sewage is relatively small volumewise.
Yeah, I didn’t think about this before but I guess you need to be careful if you have water from a bore hole. I didn’t realise that safe distance was only 30m! But I’m also under the impression that septic systems are quite carefully designed, not just a big hole soaking blackwater into the ground.
Everyone I know on septic systems gets their water from rainwater (something we get a lot of here) so contamination isn’t a problem.
A proper septic system is carefully engineered but they can still be quite low tech. Many houses still just have gravel trenches and pits.
My own home doesn’t have any pumps, it just pushes water out as water comes in. My tiny strip of land has deep trenches and the right native soil (deep sand).
More modern systems just need some pressurized lines and only three feet of the right sand to achieve proper treatment of effluents.
releasing human sewage directly into the environment would be ecologically disastrous.
I still don’t get how we managed to go on for so many decades doing it. The rivers must have been disgusting. (I’m looking at you, Ganges)
Look at london; they still are!
Fun fact (?): The Thames being so gross is one of the reasons modern sewage treatment took off. One of the main tests is designed based on the behavior of the Thames: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/labCert/BODAbout.html
Not if you’re a Dave Matthews’ band bus driver.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/08/08/21-years-later-dave-matthews-bus-poop-incident-makes-chicagoans-laugh-and-groan/
of course
/s
Well I was thinking there’s a big difference between what is safe to release into the environment (solids removed, UV treated to kill germs, maybe some other stuff) vs safe drinking water. But I guess waste water is mostly just water - not mostly urine. So maybe it’s not as big of a gap as I assumed. After all, they pump water in from rivers and lakes for filtering and treatment before putting it in the pipes, maybe it isn’t that big of a difference after all?
A lot of people don’t realize outside sewers and cities, septic systems are a thing and all the sewage goes to a tank that drains out into a patch of soil. A hundred feet/30 meters and usually even a wellhead is considered at a safe range.
Soils do a lot of biological treatment just as the enzymes and bacteria in septic tanks break down and dissolve solids.
UV disinfection and other treatment of sewage on-site is only common in areas with high water tables or proximity to waterbodies under that 100ft/30 meter range.
The majority of modern wastewater comes from other fixtures for laundry, showers, and the kitchen. Toilet sewage is relatively small volumewise.
speak for yourself i been practicing
Yeah, I didn’t think about this before but I guess you need to be careful if you have water from a bore hole. I didn’t realise that safe distance was only 30m! But I’m also under the impression that septic systems are quite carefully designed, not just a big hole soaking blackwater into the ground.
Everyone I know on septic systems gets their water from rainwater (something we get a lot of here) so contamination isn’t a problem.
A proper septic system is carefully engineered but they can still be quite low tech. Many houses still just have gravel trenches and pits.
My own home doesn’t have any pumps, it just pushes water out as water comes in. My tiny strip of land has deep trenches and the right native soil (deep sand).
More modern systems just need some pressurized lines and only three feet of the right sand to achieve proper treatment of effluents.
This is Ohio man, we draw our drinking water from the same rivers and lakes that the town upstream dumps their treated sewage into
I guess the difference is that it’s presumably quite diluted by the river, rather than directly feeding waste water back to the drinking water pipe.