Hey guys,

I was planning for the land I will be buying soon, and I did not like the idea of a traditional septic tank system.

Earthships.net has a good process, but it also does not recycle the water. Using low volume toilets and urinals is one step to help, but I'd rather be able to reuse that water. If Cruise ships and Military boats can recycle their stuff, a normal household should be able to scale it down, automate it, and be good to go. However, my contractor expressed concerns regarding obtaining permits for such systems.

Anyone come across systems that recycle the water as much as possible and can be repumped, after treatment, into the greywater system?

I've been looking for about half a day now, and I have found too many good sources of information.
I did come across this:
http://www.biomicrobics.com/Products/Micro.../about_MCF.html
...which is appears to be ideal, but I am unsure of price ATM.

I also saw a on article online about a year ago that covered how a hotel/motel/resort had a computer automated system that functioned much like the MicroFast and allowed for treatment of higher volumes, which their old septic system couldn't handle. The article covered the spaying of effluent over material that had a high surface area. For some reason my mind is thinking of "bio balls" much like the ones used for aquariums. This system the article covered did not recycle the water, whereas it dumped it into a large wetland after most of the sludge was treated. However, I can't find the article again.

Also, can someone can drop some URLs to systems that use automated filtration/treatment of greywater to provide potable water?

I was thinking of using a water catchment system that uses rain water _and_ land run-off using trenches in various key points on the land. I was planning on distillation with nano filtering to remove any chemicals that are carried over during the distillation process. (The chemicals being those already in the air caught by rain as it falls, i.e. pesticides.)

But I need some good ideas on pre-filtering for sediment, or suggestions on the entire system.

I had come up with a simple plan of either using one embedded linux board running on a newer low voltage ARM based board (450mhz, .8 watts at load), or a combination of the ARM proc and some pic boards for mundane automation tasks. I still have to sit aside and work out the details, but I have a good idea of what I'm going to do.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

If you want to get a mortgage or have a chance of reselling in the future I would suggest building a conventional home with an optional grey water piping system. That way you don't have to worry about getting building permits or building loans. If the sewage is captured in a holding / settling tank prior to being sent to a weeping bed then your well set up for a future waste water treatment system. I don't think any of the above costs would be wasted. Having a secondary system to fall back on is alot better than being forced to use portapotties. It might save your marriage also.

Haha Luckily my wife is eager to implement these systems, too, but I know what you mean.

Unfortunately, the land has a high red clay content, so I already know that it's not going to perk for five bedrooms (it _might_ perk for one or two), which means a contained septic. Otherwise, I'd most likely go with a traditional system to expedite the building process. I don't like the idea of having to pay someone to pump it once a month. The reoccurring expenditure is my main issue. We've been pre-approved for a owner-builder loan, so I'd rather use the loan to build the systems, now, for recycling water and allowing the house to be off-grid. Any time I change the site plan (converting a traditional septic system to a enclosed recycling system), I will have to reapply for the permit. The city we're building in has "alternative" on their application form, so I'm assuming they just need a environmental health specialist to sign off on the plans. The second issue with it is the fact I'll pay $X amount to have a soil engineer perk the land and tell me what I already know. Planning this build is half about budgeting, and every little bit saved goes toward tech for the house (automation, efficiency, or luxury for the wife's sake). (lol I'm a tech guy and I'm going to be spending most of my time in my workshop in the basement doing programming and working on projects or in my theater room , so I care not for excess luxury. I just want my theater room, computer room/tech workshop, a decent kitchen, a roomy garage, and a automated light/climate/wakeup controlled bedroom.)

If I'm coming off the wrong way, I apologize, and I don't mean to. I'm just <rant>'ing.

Reselling isn't a consideration or concern. We're planning to build a house that will (hopefully) outlast our current family, and can then be passed onto the next gen. Sure, I know of the argument of having to move and needing to sell your house. I work in IT, and I can work from home, so its not an issue. In making the house off-grid and implementing systems to minimize cost of living, I don't have to concern myself with getting the big bucks to "pay to live." Something we're currently doing in SoCal, which I hold great distaste for. Both my wife and I have high paying salaries, but its not enough to enjoy the things you want to do (not to mention that the high paying jobs demand so much time). Working from home in IT even with $40k a year salary would be more than sufficient. No cost for power or water. A greenhouse to provide most of your food. The only thing you have to be concerned with is yearly property tax. Most cities give tax incentives for LEED approved houses, so building an off-grid house could even lower our yearly property tax (I still have to check for the city we're building in). Major costs are going to be travel to and from the city (45 min drive), supplemental food the greenhouse cannot provide.

</rant> lolz

We had a similar situation in that our house was not perking well so we had to go with a mound system. The system works quite well and the area I have it piped into does very well with wildflowers. You might be able to do quite well with low root systems and an additional 12 inches of topsoil to grow things. Trees for nursuries comes to mind, since many people will not grow anything food related near those systems. The possibilites are endless.

Start here for greywater recycling.

Super basic but good stuff.

nice. Thanks!

A personal hero and heck, yea, I kinda know the guy...Joe Jenkins:

http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html