Had a home inspector ( Engineer) looking over my house , for a couple who wants to buy our home. We got talking about septic health. I mentioned I heard lint was not good for the leach fields as it could plug things up. But next he blew me away with something unexpected. Anyone who is getting Chemo treatments he said, should not use a septic system. That person using the system will completely wipe out all the good bacteria. Kills the system. I'll bet not one doctor has ever mentioned that, to any patients. How about once the system is pumped, where's that end up? LOL!
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Flatbedford
Minister of Fire
Just think of all the anti-biotics and other drugs that pass thru people and into septic systems and water treatment systems. Pretty scary when you think of how much we are poisoning ourselves.
I new of a guy that use to spread the pump outs onto his fields for fertilizer , to grow his cow corn. Now because of exactly what you said, all the drugs, etc. , they want to ban using it for that purpose. So now the cost of a pump out will go up and up.
Funny you should mention that. We just had our tank inspected. He said you can tell a dead tank right away. Now sewer doesn't smell great, but it is tolerable. The smell of a dead tank will gag any sewer veteran and it has a sickly whitish grey color. Most often it happens due to a large quantity of antibiotics or chemotherapy. But it can also happen when a large batch of bad wine is dumped down the drain, or a lot of bleach or if a meth lab is dumping there.
Flatbedford
Minister of Fire
We are not always good at considering the all the costs of things. Chemicals and their disposal, oil and it's spills and military protection, etc.
Flatbedford
Minister of Fire
kenny chaos
Minister of Fire
semipro
Minister of Fire
These same sort of problems occur at municipal waste water treatment plants. Look up "endocrine disruptors" some time. It should scare you. They are making their way into our water supplies (e.g. rivers) because they make their way through conventional treatment processes. Many suspect these cause early onset of puberty in girl, frogs changing gender in mid-life and so on.
one discussion: http://www.epa.gov/endo/pubs/edspoverview/whatare.htm
one discussion: http://www.epa.gov/endo/pubs/edspoverview/whatare.htm
kenny chaos
Minister of Fire
semipro
Minister of Fire
kenny chaos
Minister of Fire
Semipro said:
There's watch groups out there. I've gotten many notices over the years that I was involved in a class action
lawsuit because the phone company over-charged, or a company falsified reports, etc. You and I can't keep everyone honest.
There're those who will police that stuff.
eg.- past bans on paraquat
-agent orange
- new world wide ban on methyl bromide
- soon to come ban on atrazine
- etc., etc.
There's always the issues of power and money to get around.
Get scared about what's going on that you can do something about, and use that fear to guide you.
I got me a new bicycle. Haven't ridden in over 30 years. I even got an mp3 player.
My two biggest passions rolled into one. Life is good again.
There is no treatment known at this time to remove trace pharmacuticals from waste water. All of the birth control pills that are taken and then disharged in urine in cities at the head waters of river systems - goes right into the sewer system which is treated for solids and such and then dumped into the river where it goes down to the next municipalities fresh water intake. Where it is treated as drinking water. So the children in that town are enjoying pharmacuticals in their drinking water. Because no system is in place to remove pharmacuticals from waste water or drinking water. The cycle duplicates itself all the way down to the bay and ocean.
By the time the Potomac River reaches Washington DC, it's nothing but recycled sewer water full of pharmacuticals from all the towns that feed into the watershed. The male fish have eggs. I would not let you children drink tap water. It's not that people are flushing pills, it's all the people taking treatments which pass thru their bodies into their waste and into the sewer system - which doesn't treat it.
Never thought about Chemo and a septic tank. I do know - you shouldn't rinse paint brushes in your sink if you are on a septic. And tampons are also a no no
By the time the Potomac River reaches Washington DC, it's nothing but recycled sewer water full of pharmacuticals from all the towns that feed into the watershed. The male fish have eggs. I would not let you children drink tap water. It's not that people are flushing pills, it's all the people taking treatments which pass thru their bodies into their waste and into the sewer system - which doesn't treat it.
Never thought about Chemo and a septic tank. I do know - you shouldn't rinse paint brushes in your sink if you are on a septic. And tampons are also a no no
semipro
Minister of Fire
kenny chaos said:
So you're saying that:
- if you found today that the bike you just got was known for bad welds on the fork and
- that others with the same bike had gotten hurt when their forks broke while riding and
- that regulators had yet to compel the manufacturer to recall the bikes
you'd ride it anyway without taking any precautions like checking for a defective fork?
I would disagree with the broad comment made that "
". Wastewater can be treated a couple of ways to remove trace contaminants but its expensive and therefore the technology isnt used in most places except where there is severe fresh water shortages. Drinking water supplies have the same comment, the technology is there but does it make a lot of sense to treat municipal water to ultrapurity standards when most of it is used to flush toilets and water lawns. Reverse Osmosis filters work real well in removing these contaminants and thats why a large amount of the bottled water sold in the US is municipal drinking water run through a reverse osmosis system.
peakbagger said:
It's not that it doesn't make sence because most municipal water is used to flush toilets and water lawns. The treatment of waste water and treatment of drinking water for municipalities is only done to the standards set by the EPA and nothing further. It's about money.
I should have stated that there is no municipal treatment currently being conducted to remove trace pharmacuticals. Why?
Biological wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove any specific compounds. They are designed to reduce the concentrations of all of the constituents of municipal wastewater to levels that are protective of all of the uses of the water into which the treatment plant discharges. Most wastewater treatment plants throughout the country meet this standard. Treatment plants are designed to enhance the natural processes of biodegradation that occur in rivers when organic material is discharged to a water system.
When the treatment facilities were built, they were designed to handle the environmental health and safety problems that were known then. According to the U.S. EPA, "currently, there are no municipal sewage treatment plants that are engineered specifically for PPCP removal or for other unregulated contaminants. Effective removal of PPCPs from treatment plants varies based on the type of chemical and on the individual sewage treatment facilities." [Source: www.epa.gov/ppcp/faq.html#ifthereareindeed]
You are correct that there are methods to remove trace pharmacuticals, BUT there is NO ONE method that takes care of all and certainly nothing that has been developed to attack this problem on a larger scale for say a municipal treatment facility. So like it or not - it's something we have to deal with.
Alot is being done to look into this and alot of money is also being poured into proving that the trace pharmacuticals don't pose a public threat. It's not just pills taken and then pass thru our bodies. Our pets are on drugs, and livestock are injected with drugs. Their waste also goes into the watershed.
Enviormentally - we are drugging our world and no one seems to be noticing.
woodsmaster
Minister of Fire
So whats a person on chemo supposed to do, rent an outhouse. I think I would use the septic then pump the tank after chemo.
Good question, on using the septic. My wife wound up having chemo treatments, using the septic, and at the time , we new nothing. She also had radiation follow up treatments. I later was told too, you shouldn't even sleep in the same bed with someone going thru radiation treatments. How true that is, I don't know. We have since pumped the tank, before even finding out about chemo killing septics. Ahhhh
! What they don't tell. They only tell you to pay your taxes!
! What they don't tell. They only tell you to pay your taxes!
mayhem
Minister of Fire
xclimber said:
I'm kind of wondering how you expect to get lint in your leech field in the first place? Is there alot of lint that comes out in the clothes washer or are people flushing the lint trap residue from thier clothes dryer?
I guess is must come off certain types of fabric as you wash your clothes. I saw a lint trap they make for your septic tank, advertised on some web site. It goes on the outboard pipe in your septic tank. You lift off the lid and pull a removable screen out of a tube and wash the lint off the screen. I'm sure dog and cat hair will plug things up too, if they're on clothing, blankets, etc.
I've been using this lint trap for about 15 yrs. Does a great job. Filters are easy to change and clean.
http://www.septicsolutions.net/store/Filtrol160.htm
http://www.septicsolutions.net/store/Filtrol160.htm
mayhem said:
Any washing machine made by Whirlpool regularly expels the lint ball into the drain. They brag about it.
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