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Lagoons for Onsite Wastewater Treatment InspectAPedia®  -     A guide to use of septic lagoons or effluent ponds for septic system wastewater treatment

Lagoon septic systems: also known as "pond septic systems" for onsite wastewater treatment are less often found in use for single family residential wastewater treatment. A residential lagoon system may use a conventional septic tank, but effluent from the tank flows to a storage pond or lagoon for further treatment. The illustration at page top is from "Utah Small Animal Waste Lagoons and Ponds" published by the Utah state government.

Citation of this article by reference to this website and brief quotation for the sole purpose of review are permitted. Use of this information at other websites, in books or pamphlets for sale is reserved to the author. Technical review by industry experts has been performed and is ongoing - reviewers welcomed and are listed at "References." This document is a chapter of Inspecting, Testing, & Maintaining Residential Septic Systems an online book on septic systems.

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Lagoons or Ponds for Onsite Waste and Wastewater Treatment

What is a Lagoon Septic System for Onsite Waste or Wastewater Treatment?

Lagoon systems: also known as "pond systems" for onsite wastewater treatment are less often found in use for single family residential wastewater treatment. A residential lagoon system may use a conventional septic tank, but effluent from the tank flows to a storage pond or lagoon for further treatment. (Some states such as Missouri may permit a lagoon without a septic tank.)

Lagoon systems require comparatively large land areas and are more likley to be found therefore in rural areas or where a common wastewater treatment system has been designed to serve multiple dwellings. For example lagoons are used for effluent disposal on small farms and for animal waste treatment/disposal on small and large farms or livestock operations.

Aerobic Lagoon Wastewater Treatment System Design

The lagoon or pond holds septic effluent where treatment may be enhanced by using an aerobic design to a shallow pond of effluent (adding air to the water, perhaps by an air pump or a fountain system).

Anaerobic Lagoon or Pond Septic System Designs

Anaerobic lagoon or pond designs are deeper and work more like a conventional septic tank, processing waste into settled sludge and treated effluent, and not making use of oxygen-requiring microbes nor of sunlight to treat the effluent.

Effluent from a pond septic system, except for its portion which is removed by evaporation, is commonly permitted to flow through a wetlands for further treatment before discharge to the environment.

The site and construction requirements for a lagoon septic system will require additional clearance distances from wells, property lines, etc. Lagoons are constructed in high clay soils (or lined) so that effluent does not drain into the soil directly from the lagoon.

A Typical Residential Wastewater Lagoon Design Specification

North Dakota State University offers some basic design specifications for a lagoon system for treating wastewater: "The lagoon surface area should be sized at about 500 square feet per person. A lagoon serving a four-person household would then have a surface area of about 2,000 square feet. The lagoon should have a depth of 3 feet with a minimum freeboard of 2 feet.

Shape the sides of the lagoon to a 3:1 slope. A 2,000 square foot lagoon with 3 feet working depth and 3:1 side slopes would have a 50-foot diameter at its working depth and a 62-foot diameter at the top of the dike.

The lagoon may also be square or rectangular. A 2,000 square foot lagoon would be 45 feet square at its working depth and 57 feet square at the top of the dike." --quoted from North Dakota State University - www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ageng/structu/ae892-3.htm#Lagoons.

The design specs for a lagoon septic system will vary widely depending on its use and the effluent flow rate involved. However the basic concepts of lagoon system operation and protection will be consistent.

Lagoon Wastewater System Safety and Protection

For safety the edges of a lagoon should be fenced to protect children and animals. Protection may also be needed to keep burrowing animals such as groundhogs from digging holes which inadvertently drain the pond.

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SEPTIC SYSTEM DESIGN ALTERNATIVES
  Wastewater Treatment Levels
  Wastewater Dispersal Methods
  Master List of Septic System Types
  AEROBIC SEPTIC SYSTEMS
  ALTERNATING BED SEPTIC SYSTEMS
  CESSPOOLS
  DOSING SYSTEMS GRAVITY/SIPHON
  DOSING SYSTEMS PRESSURE
  DRYWELLS
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  EVAPORATION-TRANSPIRATION SEPTIC SYSTEMS
  FIXED-FILM PROCESS SEPTIC SYSTEMS
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  STEEP SLOPE SEPTIC DESIGNS
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  ALTERNATIVE SEPTIC DESIGNERS
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Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

• Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
• Alternative Septic System Designs
• Anaerobic Lagoon Systems for Livestock Farms EPA funded project
• Pond, Lagoon, & Lake Water Quality Improvement products and suppliers
• Potential Environmental Impacts of Animal Feeding Operations US EPA
• As a few examples below indicate, the US EPA has conducted or funded many studies concerning the use of lagoon systems for human and animal waste or wastewater. Check out www.epa.gov
• Biosolids Generation, Use, and Disposal in the United States - EPA document, large PDF file.
• Utah Small Animal Waste Lagoons and Ponds
• Wastewater Lagoon Systems on Indian Reservations Region 8 of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for wastewater lagoon systems treating primarily domestic wastewater, located on Indian Reservations in the States of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.
• Wastewater treatment lagoons: A US EPA sponsored project in Mississippi is studying lagoons for onsite wastewater treatment - http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/Section319II/MS.html
• Wastewater Primer US EPA guidelines on wastewater treatment systems
• Wetland Systems - alternative wastewater treatment systems using constructed wetlands (at this website)
• ...

More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• Septic System Information Website home page for septic systems inspection, maintenance, repair, and design
• Septic Systems Inspection, Testing, & Maintenance- online textbook. Detailed how to inspect, maintain, repair information
• The Home Buyer's Guide to Septic Systems
• Septic Tank Pumping Guide: When, Why, How to pump the septic tank
• Home & Outdoor Living Water Requirements
• Septic Tank Capacity vs Usage in Daily Gallons of Wastewater Flow, calculating required septic tank size, calculating septic tank volume from size measurements
• How Big Should the Leach Field Be? - table of soil percolation rate vs. field size
• Septic System Drainfield Absorption System Biomat Formation - what leads to drain field clogging and expensive drainfield repairs
• Table of Required Septic & Well Clearances: Distances Between Septic System & Wells, Streams, Trees, etc.
• Ten Steps to Keeping a Septic System Working, suggestions from the U.S. EPA, edits and additions by DJF
• Pennsylvania State Fact Sheets relating to domestic wastewater treatment systems include
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-161, Septic System Failure: Diagnosis and Treatment
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-162, The Soil Media and the Percolation Test
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-l64, Mound Systems for Wastewater Treatment
• Pennsylvania State Wastewater Treatment Fact Sheet SW-165, Septic Tank-Soil Absorption Systems
• Document Sources used for this web page include but are not limited to: Agricultural Fact Sheet #SW-161 "Septic Tank Pumping," by Paul D. Robillard and Kelli S. Martin. Penn State College of Agriculture - Cooperative Extension, edited and annotated by Dan Friedman (Thanks: to Bob Mackey for proofreading the original source material.)

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