Patent Application
20140374342
Published reference: MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT GUIDELINES
The patent reference material was qualified by searching for patents containing: the following keyword relationships:
inlet and waste and water and liner and (outlet or discharge) and evaporation and (cap or cover), yielding the following:
All previously sited references require an inlet and an outlet.
(Method or process or program) and waste and wastewater and (cover or cap) and transpiration and (“no discharge” and “no outlet”), yields no results
As well as:
The utilization of our passive resources is the key to the Environmental Waste Water Cultivation System.
The primary energy source is solar; the secondary energy source is heat absorbed from the residence or commercial structure, and transferred to the Environmental Waste Water Cultivation System.
Wastewater processing includes effluent isolation, horticultural root zone respiration, and horticultural transpiration.
Currently, all septic systems include the release of effluent to ground and natural hydraulic systems (rivers, creeks, etc.) that eventually can decimate marine life. The Environmental Waste Water Cultivation System will not do this. Captured effluent or enumerated wastewater is completely consumed by the system's horticultural elements.
The mass flow of wastewater, per unit of time, to be processed will determine the total volume of horticultural elements. In addition, unobstructed solar-impacted surface area is required and is determined by the horticultural elements' (crop) coefficient(s) and geographically dependant evapotranspiration rates published by meteorological concerns.
Therefore, any amount of wastewater can be processed when sufficient solar irradiated surface area is available and suitable horticultural elements are selected.
Rooting media (types of loam) is selected to affect the best wastewater processing characteristics for the selected horticultural elements.
This system is composed of a septic tank, emergency water pumping chamber, septic water pumping chamber, and a capped and contained distribution field.
With the subject effluent rate secured and horticultural requirements determined, I will be able to properly “size” the Environmental Waste Water Cultivation System's surface area.
Using this data, I calculate the total surface area required to process subject influent rate. The resulting volumetric is augmented to account for loam media, horticultural elements, and storage quantities.
This effluent containment is considered virtually impervious to groundwater and rainwater and can be semi-submerged to enable emergency water application to horticultural media and elements. As a standard, the storage capacity will be for more than 3 months.
The only water captured in this system is the water used within the residence or commercial structure and initially, a maximum of 12% of precipitation. To insure containment of influent, the landfill liner and capping material is Geosynthetic Clay Lining (GCL). The Lining consists of bentonite (clay), bonded to an impervious polymeric sheet. The benefit of using this type of material is that it is self-healing. Laboratory tests have shown that bentonite clay is able to self-heal holes that are 75 millimeters in diameter. In addition, its hydraulic conductivity is less than one billionth of a centimeter per second.
Therefore, this system is required to have a minimum base of:
1 Foot of clay or other natural material having an in-place permeability of less than or equal to 1×10−7 centimeters/second.
One or more unreinforced synthetic membranes with a combined minimum thickness of 50 mil.
A single reinforced synthetic membrane with a minimum thickness of 30 mil, which has a permeability less than or equal to 1×|0−10 centimeters/second, placed over a prepared subbase with a minimum thickness of 2 feet and a permeability less than or equal to 1×10−5 centimeters/second.
The cap will consist of material having an in-place permeability of less than or equal to 1×10−5 with damming collars and surface water diverters to prevent runoff from entering the system. The sub-cap should consist of 2″-3″ stones, 6 inches in depth to facilitate system gas exchange and a metered precipitation introduction rate of 12% of precipitation.
Stormwater pond to store excess stormwater.
The system distribution utilizes subterranean irrigation techniques that prevent root and salt obstruction in nourishing horticulture elements in appropriate intervals/rates.
The crux of system maintenance is sufficient nutrient and water supply. All horticultural elements are robust under these circumstances.
System failure indications are:
Escaped effluent from cap.
In the event of cap or liner failure, re-evaluate wastewater flow rates, which must be done by the system designer at no additional cost, to insure that the containment design is sufficient and make commensurate alterations within physical constraints; this must be done by the system designer. Or, if the system is appropriately sized per the original building plans, install additional bentonite clay or other flexible membrane to repair the source of effluent breach and arrangements must be made for the removal of excess effluent by licensed septic handling professionals at the expense of the property owner. If the effluent rate outgrows the size of the system, and additional irradiant area on the subject property is not available, the owner will need to contract an authorized septic handling and removal company for periodic removal that would eliminate the event of overflow. In the long-term, the owner may need to vacate the property or reduce the effluent rate.
Expired horticultural elements
In the event of element failure, the failed element will be replaced with an equivalent element(s) with equal or greater root mass, at the expense of the liable party.
Observation of horticultural elements and the content of the inspection wells is the primary means of inspection.
Automatic controls with thresholds to maintain stability under lower and high effluent rates are as follows:
Maryland Department of the Environment Monitoring Design:
Monitoring Frequency: Monitoring frequency for a cultivation site may be influenced by a number of factors and thus will be addressed on a case-by-case basis but at a minimum of once per three (3) months, conducted by the system designer.
System Performance: The hydrologic expression is P+Lw=ET+GW+RO+SM where
The nature of this system requires modification to the hydrologic expression which promotes stability.
Therefore, the hydrologic expression, inside this system becomes as follows.
P+Lw=ET+0.88P+SM
In summation, this system is governed by the following expression:
0.12P+Lw=ET+SM
However, this system is dynamic and requires particular attention paid to fluid rates and evaporation rates over time. Therefore, all of the components become functions of time. The equation's component rates and their relationships, with regard to the moisture content of the soil profile, are as follows:
d[SM(t,areamsource)]/dt=K1/8.333*d[P(t,area)]/dt+K2*d[Lw(source)]/dt−K3*d[ET(t,area)]/dt, where K1, K2, K3 are site specific coefficients.
As stated earlier, precipitation introduced to the system is metered with an initial maximum amount, not to exceed, twelve percent (12%) of precipitation with the use of a metered cap. Optimizing the above equation yields the transportation model and design module.
Referring to the report, MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT GUIDELINES FOR LAND TREATMENT OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATERS, MDE-WMA-001-07103, Revision Date: July 2003, “the runoff term (RO) in the previous hydrologic balance is usually omitted. Soil moisture changes, gains and losses, on an annual basis are thought to balance each other out. Consequently, soil moisture (SM) from year to year is considered relatively constant and, therefore, usually omitted from the hydrology equation. However, this system has a soil moisture content ranging from sixty (60) percent to seventy-three (73) percent.
The report also states, “The precipitation and temperature data required for the hydrologic balance can be obtained from regional climatological stations owned and operated by the Weather Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce. These climatic stations are established throughout the continental U.S., and the data published monthly. The precipitation data (P) is directly used in the equation. The temperature data, along with the precipitation data, is used to calculate the potential evapotranspiration term (ET) in the equation. There are several methods commonly used to calculate potential ET. Most of them can be found in basic hydrology texts.”
Where this system is an improvement over of the systems enumerated in,“MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT GUIDELINES FOR LAND TREATMENT OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATERS, MDE-WMA-001-07/03, is the actual metering of water and nutrient, including specifically, precipitation, to an isolated system. In addition, the horticultural candidates, i.e. Silva cultural candidates, are able to consume large quantities of solids and water over long periods of time, 20-30 years, without harvesting.
MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT GUIDELINES FOR LAND TREATMENT OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATERS, MDE-WMA-001-07/03, Environmental data.
Month Natural Precipitation (Inches) Wastewater loading (inches) Potential ET (inches) Entering Groundwater (inches), where 1 acre-in=27,000 gallons of water.
Below is the system requirement for a commercial/retail complex, 60,000 gallons of effluent per day, located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Input data includes the definition of maximum leakage rate, which is the semiconduction of precipitation; rooting media water content percentage, rooting media.
Metered Cap Operation the “on-demand” Metered Cap, meters the amount of precipitation by opening shingled flaps or by a placing tension on the Metered Cap tension straps, at varied tensioned rates, causing the expandable holes to meter the amount of precipitation on-demand.
Once the constructed land is in place and the Metered Cap is installed, horticultural elements are inserted through the metered-cap, in such a way as to provide for a tight fit. The metered-cap material must be able to expand with trunk or stem growth.
Teaching of This method the application of horticultural components used as a specific component of an engineered mechanical system is unobvious. This patent will establish the concrete, scaleable, repeatable art of horticulture, integrated with mechanical engineering now named hortical engineering.
Enumerated Component List follows:
(1) Watersupply
(2) Commercial or Residence
(3) Effluent field supply distribution line
(4) Effluent Settling Tanks
(5) Effluent Distribution Lines
(6) Property Line
(7) Excess influent Holding Tank
(8) Excess influent distribution line
(9) Horticultural elements
(10) Standby water holding tank
(11) Standby water supply distribution line
(12) Constructed Land liner
(13) Constructed Land Metered Cap
(14) Contained Constructed Land
(15) Constructed Land inlet
(16) Protected Land and Hydraulic Systems
(17) Horticultural root zone
(18) Inspection well
(19) Retaining Wall
(20) Expandable holes
(21) Metered Cap tension Straps
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11307516 | Feb 2006 | US |
| Child | 14184131 | US |
