Retro-fitting an air pump system to a Clearwater water treatment plant

[bcanning]

Hi there

I am in one of four households (6 residents)sharing an off-grid sewage system in Langley Park, Durham..  The houses are old but refurbished in the late '80s so were developed in line with the 2020 regs ie because we back onto the River Browney our waste water has to be treated before discharge into the river.

 

The system consist of a 2 pump system.  Gravity fed,  all water and solids go into a very large septic tank with baffle plate that enables liquids to go on into a Clearwater treatment plant.  An irrigation pump works 24/7 to draw liquid up to a fountain which enables the water to trickle through a bed of biomass and so on. Solids including dead bacteria at the bottom of the tank goes into an adjacent sludge chamber where it is pumped back to the septic tank by a sludge pump which works, as I recall, 2 times per hour.  After continual recirculation, clean water flows into the river by gravity.

Too frequent irrigation pump failures coupled with an attempt to reduce energy costs caused us to look at other solutions.

The questions are :  Is it possible to replace the irrigation pump with an air pump and diffuser in a Clearwater water treatment plant ?.  Has anybody ever done this.  If so, does anyone know anyone who would take on the job?  If so, how much would a retrofit cost?