Return to Poster for Onsite Wastewater Technologies

Options for Special Conditions/Situations
Trench System

 

Trench systems consist of shallow, level excavations, usually one to five feet deep and one to three feet wide. The excavated area is usually filled with six inches or more of a porous medium, such as gravel. Next, a distribution network is laid out over the media. A single line of perforated distribution pipe is laid in each trench. Building paper, straw, or some other semi-permeable barrier is then placed on top of the network before the system is covered with soil. The wastewater trickles through the distribution network, through the media, and into the soil. Treatment of the wastewater occurs in both the media and soil sections of the trench system.

 

 

 

 

National Research Center for Coal and Energy
West Virginia University

©2008, National Environmental Services Center