Solar Aquatics Systems
- The solar aquatics waste water treatment system was originally developed by a Canadian, John Todd, director of Ocean Arks International.
- The first solar aquatics system in Canada, at Bear River in Nova Scotia, has won three international innovation awards. The first such system in B.C., the Beau Soleil system near Parksville, is the initiative of environmental scientist and architect Kimron Rink.
- The Solar Aquatics System:
- the system replicates, under controlled conditions, the natural purifying process of freshwater streams, meadows, and wetlands
- the system recovers nutrients through the treatment of waste and wastewater
- sewage collected from an area flows through a series of tanks, engineered streams, and constructed marshes where contaminants are metabolized or bound up by algae, plants, bacteria, and aquatic animals that are grown in greenhouses
- sewage is not treated as waste but considered as food for the biological community in the greenhouses
- treatment typically takes two to four days
- Three main stages of traditional sewage treatment systems are: 1) settling and screening to remove solids; 2) biological treatment to remove oxygen and suspended solids; 3t chemical removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other key nutrients detrimental to most receiving waters.
- Solar Aquatics avoids these conventional treatment stages. A prominent advantage of this system is that it takes care of the sludge drained from septic tanks. This waste is very difficult to process by conventional systems, which involve extensive mechanical and chemical processes and deplorable odour. The water that comes out at the end of treatment in the solar aquatics system meets drinking water standards.
- Category: Sewage Treatment
- Organization: Eco-Tek Wastewater Treatments Inc.
- Project: Solar Aquatics Systems
- Address: Suite #10, 20543-96th Avenue, Langley, BC, V1M 3W3
- Phone: 778-298-6835
- Fax: 778-298-6936
- E-mail: email@example.com
- Contact: Kimron D. Rink (research and design associate)