Wastewater for remote Alaskan cabin

[akaaren]

I've got a bit of an unusual situation.  I have a remote cabin in Alaska that we occupy for 4 months in the summer during the commercial fishing season.  We have traditionally used an outhouse and drained the kitchen sink to the beach.  We'd like to switch from an outhouse to either a composting toilet or a flush toilet because the outhouse is a 10 minute walk from the cabin and it is located right next to an archeological site!  There are two problems.  First, we can't just move the outhouse closer to the cabin because the water table is only about 1" below the surface - that's why the outhouse is located where it us.  Second, we could just drain a flush toilet to the beach like our neighbors do, but we have a poo eating dog (ick!).  

So, any ideas about how to build a CHEAP (less than $500) "septic" or composting toilet in this situation?  There are no codes or ordinances to worry about, just functionality.  We have LOTS of 55 gallon drums to work with.  Really, we just need the solids to get trapped and hopefully broken down underground.  

We have unusual soils too.  We've got about 1' of organic soils on top of 3' of volcanic ash (like coarse sand), followed by 6'+ of low permeability soils.  

My concerns about a composting toilet are that the toilet will freeze in the winter and we don't have any power sources to heat or ventilate the tank.  Our summer temps are between 40 and 65 degrees.

[Redoverfarm]

Under the circumstances you have outlined I would be inclined to go with a smaller septic tank with the outlet(liquid) draining away from the cabin and into a drain field situated probably down hill a suitable distance from the cabin.  But you have the problems with solids building up in your tank which will have to eventually be pumped or removed.  Is your cabin accessable by auto/truck to pump out the tank?  Depending on how much "ick"   you are dispersing/size of your tank will determine how often it would have to be pumped. I wouldn't think that often if you have a reasonable tank in the 500 gal range. What is your water source? Hand dug, drilled well or spring?

I first thought of welding 4-5 barrels (275 gal)together and on second thought they will rust out fairly soon so a plastic or other material might be better suited.

[akaaren]

Thanks for the advice!  To answer your questions, our cabin is completely remote - no road access.  Boat or float plane only, so no tank pumping ever.  If it filled up, we'd just have to replace it.  We're only there for 4 months a year with 2 -5 people at any time.  I like the idea of welding up 4-5 barrels because we have about a dozen used drums around, that was our original idea.  But what do you think about the water table being basically at the surface?  Won't that cause problems?  Someone suggested that we'd have to create a mound system or a "cesspool"...

Our water source is just gravity feed from a creek.  Pretty low gal/min, but enough for a mediocre shower.

[Redoverfarm]

If worse came to worse you could with a waste pump remove the solids.  Only the inlet/outlet would have to be above ground to prevent water seeping into the tank.  A mound would work I think for this purpose. If you are considering a flush toilet then the water elevation might be a problem with gravity flow.  You could overcome this with an elevated tank and a small dc pump to fill the tank( Heigth above the toilet) 

Speaking of which I had a relative that used a 250 gal fuel tank, generator and sump pump from a stream to operate about the same type system.  The ladies liked it a lot better than the privy.

[akaaren]

Hmmm, I'm afraid I'm a little lost.  I've done a bit of research on this stuff, but I'm a total novice.  When you say to remove the waste with a waste pump, is a waste pump like a portable trash/volume pump?  Also, can you explain a little more what you mean by "Only the inlet/outlet would have to be above ground to prevent water seeping into the tank."  Are you saying that the inlet and outlet to the tank would be above ground, but the rest of the plumbing and tank would be buried?  I do think that the tank will get rust holes quickly, so the system would need to be able to deal with that ground water infiltration into the tank. 

What do you think about a VERY simple system - 5 barrels welded together buried underground followed by perforated pipe that terminates at the beach?  What might the problems be with this system?  Especially considering that's it'll be buried in groundwater saturated sand.  The cabin is about 75 yards from the beach at about 30' of elevation.

Thanks for all your help!

On a funny note, it's actually my husband who wants the flush toilet!  I don't mind the privy...

[Redoverfarm]

Hmmm, I'm afraid I'm a little lost.  I've done a bit of research on this stuff, but I'm a total novice.  When you say to remove the waste with a waste pump, is a waste pump like a portable trash/volume pump?  Also, can you explain a little more what you mean by "Only the inlet/outlet would have to be above ground to prevent water seeping into the tank."  Are you saying that the inlet and outlet to the tank would be above ground, but the rest of the plumbing and tank would be buried?  I do think that the tank will get rust holes quickly, so the system would need to be able to deal with that ground water infiltration into the tank.  

What do you think about a VERY simple system - 5 barrels welded together buried underground followed by perforated pipe that terminates at the beach?  What might the problems be with this system?  Especially considering that's it'll be buried in groundwater saturated sand.  The cabin is about 75 yards from the beach at about 30' of elevation.

Thanks for all your help!

On a funny note, it's actually my husband who wants the flush toilet!  I don't mind the privy...

Yes the pump is what I was referring to.

That is the area that has a penetration into the tank so that is the area that the water would seep into the tank from the ground.  Since we are flying by the seat of our pants then you might have to mound the dirt over the pipe before entering the "septic tank" and a few feet over the outlet(enough to cover a downward 45 deg turn down into the ground. Generally the inlet is higher than the outlet with the inlet at the top portion of the tank.  

I would at least make one or probably two drain fields which can be done with perforated 4" pipe and gravel then ground cover.  Yes it may seep into the ground or come to the surface but essentially it is just grey water (sort of) at this point.  I am not sure how the ground will "perk" being the water table is so high but it would have to be better than dumping raw sewage onto a beach.

I think I would try to find a used plastic tank instead of metal.  Here we use concrete formed tank but without vehicle access that is probably out.

You can google or search the general design of the tanks which should provide the specs of the inlet/outlet in relation to each other.  Some health departments have this info and it can probably be accessed on line.

A man cannot rule without a throne      

[MountainDon]

I don't think the steel barrels are the solution, as I believe they will rust out quickly. The welded area is always the first to get rusty it seems, even when painted nicely. Unfortunately I don't have a good inexpensive alternative. And as for composting I believe your temperatures are too cold most of the time to get any lasting composting action. Have you thought of incinerating type of toilets? They do require fuel, usually propane. And they are not cheap.

[akaaren]

OK, thanks for the input.  I feel like I'm kind of back to square one, though.  Composter/incinerator is out due to environmental/power issues.  So we really need a flushing system.  So how do I get the solids to degrade and stay contained underground, considering the high water table?  Can you explain why it would be a problem for groundwater to infiltrate the barrels?  I don't know much about this stuff, but it seems like having water flow through the system would help things to break down, no?

[Redoverfarm]

The solids break down by enzymes and bacteria and will eventually fall to the bottom of the tank.  The liquid which is just below the solids (before falling) flow out the outlet and into the field.  There is a balance between the flow level coming in and flow level going out.  There is a dead area between the inlet and the top of the tank. If water filled the tank it would push the solid level up to the inlet and not let anymore in.  So now your septic would clogged and the waste line would back up to the toilet. The solids never leave the septic tank only their broken down stage as liquid.  Make since in a laymans term?

[akaaren]

Yes!  Great description. I've been doing more reading since my last post.  Unfortunately, I haven't had inspiration strike me.  There just seems to be so many problems with trying to make a homemade septic tank and putting it in saturated soil.  Maybe I'll just bury an old drum and build the outhouse around it!

[wendigo]

Used to live in a place in Juneau that had a ~250 gal (maybe 500?) tank on the surface, our waste went to that as a primary system, we had a long pipe (buried) that went to sea, was exposed at negative tide. In the winter we turned a lightbulb on inside the tank to keep it warm enough to keep breaking things down. Never had to pump it. Basically a standard septic system, just not buried and the field was the ocean.

Plus the glowing blue tank was a nice landmark when people were hiking out the beach to visit at night 

[diyfrank]

Here's a page I found a while back. Maybe something like this.?
http://www.wikihow.com/Construct-a-Small-Septic-System