Sand Creek Consultants, Inc.
is now
Sand County Environmental, Inc.
Sand County Environmental, Inc., is a nationally-recognized environmental engineering firm providing a full array of phytoremediation and traditional remediation solutions to private and public service sectors. Our work is most often conducted for owners of landfills, lenders, retail and wholesale agricultural chemical storage facilities, local and state governments, and other property owners where soil, groundwater, or stormwater management issues are of concern.
Sand County Environmental updated their business hours.
State regulators require a fertilizer facility to reduce the discharges of total suspended solids (TSS), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), nitrogen, and phosphorus in their stormwater. Our team developed a plan to retain, test, and treat all stormwater discharges up to a 100-year, 24-hour storm event prior to discharge. We will use a combination of the following plant- and soil-based treatment techniques to meet site goals.
• Buried drip irrigation to prairie
• Gravity flow to prairie
• Pumped discharge to prairie
• A containment berm allowing for controlled release of stormwater
The majority of stormwater discharges made from mid-March through November will be to the subsurface. This effluent will receive treatment by physical and electrochemical soil filtering, plant nutrient uptake, and soil microbes.
The feasibility study was promising, and we will begin installation in the spring!
A Wisconsin nature center is considering expanding plant-based wastewater treatment at their facility. Sand County Environmental visited the site to scope out suitable areas; we chose a restored prairie and dug in to observe the soil. We evaluated soil texture, structure, color, and other features to define soil horizons. We found three different soil orders within about one acre: mollisols (rich prairie soils), alfisols (forest soils), and inceptisols (less-developed soils due to erosion at the hilltop). The mid-slope soils are perfect for wastewater treatment! The rich organic layer at the surface will provide excellent wastewater treatment due to plant growth and microbial habitat. The sandy layer below will provide excellent drainage for clean water to percolate to groundwater. The wastewater treatment system will function similar to a septic system, but with a much higher level of treatment by plants, soil, and microbes when applied to the prairie through buried drip irrigation lines.
Yeah, I knew that
