Nitrogen Reduction
A Large-Scale Problem
Nitrogen is a naturally occurring nutrient, but when too much of it enters the groundwater, it can contribute to environmental problems such as algae blooms, poor water quality, and ecosystem imbalance. Wastewater from homes and buildings is one source of nitrogen, with each household contributing about 23 pounds per year. While that doesn’t seem like much, the impact really adds up when multiplied across thousands of properties. This is why it’s crucial for homeowners, policymakers, and communities to understand the larger picture and take action to reduce the amount of nitrogen that is unleashed on the environment.
Keeping Track of System Performance
A conventional septic system is estimated to reduce more than 50% of household nitrogen before wastewater reaches the environment. A study in Florida showed that systems which were marketed as nitrogen reducing removed 17% less nitrogen than a conventional system. Even small percentage differences like this can represent a large amount of nitrogen when you consider how many thousands of homes there are. Studies have also shown that both sewer and septic systems pollute about the same amount of total nitrogen into the aquafer. This illustrates why tracking and evaluating the performance of every wastewater system is key to understanding the wider impact on our world.
Use the Calculator
Want to see how quickly nitrogen adds up? Click the button below to go to the Carmody® nitrogen calculator, where you can see how much nitrogen is released when wastewater is multiplied by the number of homes in a neighborhood, county, or region. Choose a county and type in the number of households that use septic and sewer that you want to calculate. A good example to start with could be 30,000 households using septic systems and 100,000 households using sewer. Take a moment to run the numbers and see just how much nitrogen is generated when you take into account an entire community.
Go to Calculator