This article will touch base on the age old question of how effective are sand mound treatments. The thought of moving into your sister’s house made you feel uneasy and happy at the same time. For years, you have been used to live alone with your loyal husky. It was going to be a shock to live with your sister, her husband, and their seven-year-old triplets. But it has been years since you saw them as well. The set up with your sister was only a temporary one. You just had to live there for a month until your sand mound was replaced. You didn’t want to spend an entire month in a hotel. Before you asked your sister if you could move in for a while, you found out that your sand mound failed after only a year of installation. You weren’t there when the system was built and installed. Your agent just told you that it was okay to move in. Excitement filled you so you just said okay without asking for the technical details about the septic sand mound and also the sand mound treatments.
The sand mound system didn’t bother you at all because you knew that it’s a type of wastewater treatment system for properties that had a high water level. You knew that it is a more sensitive system because it’s found above the surface of the ground. This makes it more exposed to the elements especially to the cold weather. This is where the construction fabric comes in. The construction fabric keeps the heat inside the sand mound to make sure that the system functions well even if winter comes. The resident bacteria continuously digest the solid waste products. This process of metabolism produces heat that has to be contained. If the construction is not checked and replaced before winter, the sand mound will freeze over and fail.
The care for the sand mound doesn’t stop with the construction fabric. You also have to administer necessary sand mound treatments so that the entire wastewater treatment process goes on uninterrupted. Sand mound treatments are classified into three types—inorganic, organic, and biological. Inorganic treatments use very strong acids and bases that are known to kill the resident bacteria and the physical components of the sand mound. Organic treatments only benefit the system for a while but eventually negatively affect it. The most widely used and recommended sand mound treatment is the biological one. The biological sand mound treatments contain non-pathogenic bacteria and enzymes that improve the process of degrading the solid wastes. These treatments do not have any chemical discharges that pollute the surrounding environment.
Experts say that the enzymes used in biological sand mound treatments really don’t provide a significant improvement to the performance of the bacteria. Human waste alone could already provide the necessary enzymes needed to have the desired effect. But even so, the sand mound treatments available these days are formulated to aid your system every day. But remember that these treatments are not cures for your sand mound’s malfunctions or failures.
It would be much better if you just consider the sand mound treatments as supplementation to your regular pump out treatments and proper use of the system. You should also make sure that the gutter is diverted away from the area of the sand mound. Remove any form of hard wood plants from the sand mound area. These plants have invasive roots that clog or damage the sand mound components. Any form of vehicle and construction should also be removed from the area of the sand mound. The heavy weight that they impose on the sand mound results to soil compaction. This brings forth damage to the sand mound components. Water load should also be lessened so that the resident bacteria could have enough time to break down the solid wastes that enter the system. Harsh chemicals and cleansers should not be used as well because these kill off the bacteria and pollute the surrounding water systems.
Sand mound treatments are here to help you and your system. But make sure that you do your part in caring for it, by using sand mound treatments.