Description

When you are not connected by the mains drainage you must implement a non-collective sanitation. Most often, the choosen solution is the septic tank. However, it requires a regular maintenance, emits corrosive gases and most f the tome obnoxious odors.

There is an alternative: the phytopurification (also called planted filter or lagoon), which has no environmental impact, on the contrary, since it produces a compost that can be valued.

Unlike septic tanks that use anaerobic bacterias (living in a closed environment, without air, and thus producing a fermentation process that releases corrosive and malodorous gas), phytopurification uses aerobic bacterias, providing a respiration process (consumption of oxygen and releasing CO2 and water vapor). This system uses the bacterias living in the roots of plants to purify water. It can treat pollutants such as phosphates and nitrates, contained in the urine and feces. The natural chemical treatment also allows the decomposition of household pollutants.

Its installation cost is the same, or even lower, than those for a septic tank. The difference? The septic tank lasts ten years while phytopurification is installed once and for all.

Count between 4,000 and 10,000€ for a 4 bedroom house (depending on the field, if the installation requires a pump or not, etc..). At La Ville Heleuc, which includes 2 cottages and 2 houses, the installation, designed for 17 people, cost  17,000€. Forecast an average between 2 and 5m ² per person.

The phytopurification countanins two parts:

• The first is planted exclusively with reeds or bamboos, with sand or gravel: it performs the screening, retainingthe  large particles on its surface. The solid elements will turn into compost.
• The second is composed of marsh plants that bloom, mostly iris and purple loosestrife, or aquatic mint: it generates a slower and thinner sanitation.

Note: if there are only dry toilets in the house, the first part is not necessary.

Finally, at the exit of the phytopurification system, water, cleared of pollutants, must be rejected to be infiltrated into the soil. At La Ville Heleuc, the choice was made on a pond, but the water could also feed a garden irrigation system, or just seep into a trench dug in the ground.

In some cases, it may be appropriate to group with its neighbors to create a small community facility instead of several individual plants.

Warning: sanitation stations are subject to regulation. It is therefore necessary before installation to withdraw a declaration of installation. This will explain the characteristics of the land and the principles of the chosen system. It may be helpful to use a consulting firm to put the odds on his side.

Seen at

Name		Type of facility	Environment	Country	Swap?
	Sobo Bade	Activities, Hotels & guest houses, Restaurants & Co	rural, mer, zone-chaude	Senegal	Yes
	Sobo Bade	Actividades, Hoteles y habitaciones, Restaurantes & co	rural, mer, zone-chaude	Senegal	Yes
	Domaine de la Ville Heleuc	Cottages & furnished rentals	rural, zone-temperee	France	Yes

Provider

• Self-construction
• Aquatiris

Learn more

The phytopurification fits perfectly into the landscape so you can also use it to enrich your garden with plants and flowers.