City Meter, Inc.

The protection of rivers, streams and aquatic estuaries is important to this and future generations. Properly permitted, operated and maintained septic tanks systems do a good job of protecting rivers and streams by treating household wastewater. However, septic tank systems which are not properly maintained are often a leading cause of water pollution.

Time based septic treatment system maintenance programs do not take into account the usage of septic tank system. As an example: a house which is built and inhabited for one year and then vacated for the following four years, would logically not need its septic tank system pumped. Under many time based septic tank maintenance programs, this tank would need to the pumped and maintained just as if it had been occupied. Application of time based septic tank maintenance programs could be wasteful and not in the public's best interest. In another example: if a house is over occupied, it stands to reason that the septic tank system will see usage over and above what the designer intended, will accumulate solids and sludge faster than anticipated and should be pumped more frequently than every three to five years. Again the application of a pure time based maintenance requirement could fail to protect the public's best interest.

City Meter's sewer service meter can be used to implement flow based septic tank maintenance programs. Flow based maintenance programs ensure the operational integrity of the septic treatment system, while minimizing the cost of such a program. Using the flow based program the tank would need to be pump every _____ thousand gallons through the sewer service meter.

System flow usage is what determines the amount of solids, sludge and scum buildup in a septic tank and is logically a better indicator of when a tank should be inspected or pumped in a maintenance program. A flow based maintenance program could easily be established by installing City Meter's sewer service meter in the household service line leading to each septic tank system. The meter totalized flow could then be used to determine the maintenance and pumping intervals.

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