Chambers Provide Increased Storage in Connecticut

Sandy Beach, a community beach at Lake Morris in Bantam, Conn., was undergoing a major renovation that would include new bathrooms, a bath station and a snack bar with a grease trap. Since the previous septic system was originally installed in the 1950s, it required an upgrade to provide enough storage to accommodate the new features.

Engineers determined that a new wastewater management system would need a 1,500-gal storm water tank, 2,000-gal septic tank and 2,000-gal pump chamber with two pumps to meet the requirements of the renovated beach complex. Contractors from Green Construction Management LLC faced a number of challenges during the installation of the new system, starting with preparing the location for excavation. A number of trees were cut down and cleared in order to insert the leaching galleys that would distribute the effluent. The galleys are set on the far side of the beach in a wooded area.

Determining the location for the chambers was another issue the team faced. Wetlands sit directly behind the beach and meet the water. In addition, the site has a high water table, making the installation of the three tanks particularly difficult.

Because of the weight of the new septic tanks, trucks were unable to drive across Sandy Beach to transport them without the risk of sinking. Contractors chose to hold off on transporting the materials across the beach and up a steep hill on the far side until the wintertime when the sand was frozen. Once the ground was hard enough for travel, contractors completed one large excavation for the tanks—rather than multiple smaller ones—because once the hole was dug, the banks kept sliding in. Pumps were in place to dewater the pit 24-hours-a-day.

Sewage water flows from the tanks through a two-inch pipe located approximately 400 ft across the beach front up the hill where it meets a twin row of CULTEC’s Recharger 150XLHD chambers. Two Recharger 150XLHD units are placed side by side in a 6-foot-wide trench surrounded in stone to get 9.5 sq ft/ft approval rating. The water enters the Cultec chambers from ¼-inch holes on the top of the chambers spaced every three feet. Inside the chambers, the water is held while it percolates and evaporates.

A total of 54 chambers were installed in a six-foot-wide trench in between the wetlands and the water directly on the beach under a pedestrian sidewalk. Per State of Connecticut regulations, each foot of the 254-linear-ft trench gets 9.5 sq. ft of leaching allowance, for a total of 2,413 sq ft of leaching.

Source: Cultec