Thistle Dhu Guest House, Glenlivet
Background
Thistle Dhu Bed & Breakfast is located in the heart of Glenlivet and the Speyside Malt Whisky Region of Scotland. On the border of the Cairngorns National Park, Thistle Dhu B&B is situated along the world-famous Malt Whisky Trail. This picturesque and modern guest house started having major problems with its existing septic tank and soakaway, which had failed and raw sewage was slowly seeping out of the tank and making its way into the watercourse across the road from the B&B. Andy Wallace, the owner of Thistle Dhu Bed & Breakfast, turned to Water and Wastewater Specialist Syd Ross at Filpumps Ltd. Syd put forward a new GRAF wastewater treatment system with a chlorine dosing station to help meet the strict effluent quality requirements set out by SEPA. The treated effluent would then be discharged into a partial soakaway and for any water that doesn’t soakaway it then overflows into a stream across the road from the B&B.
Solution
Graf UK specified and designed a 9PE Advanced One2Clean treatment plant with a chlorination dosing station, using a GRAF Saphir tank. This specialised system helps to kill pathogens in the effluent which can cause harm to both human and animals if the pathogens find their way into the water cycle. Contractors McKerron and Milne of Rothes were then called in for the installation of the treatment plant and dosing unit.
Results
This system comprises of a 6,500L Carat tank and a 900L Saphir tank. The Carat wastewater tank collects incoming waste from the B&B and uses sequence batch reactor (SBR) technology to effectively and efficiently treat the incoming waste. The benefit of using SBR systems means there are no moving or electrical components within the tanks. There are air diffusers at the bottom of the SBR tanks that pump oxygen into the tanks in order to keep the microorganisms alive, these microorganisms then biologically break down the solids, allowing sludge to sink to the bottom of the tank and a treated water zone forms at the top. The SBR tanks need to be maintained and pumped out on a scheduled basis.
“Graf UK were extremely helpful from start to finish with this unique project. I was able to get answers from Graf UK in Banbury and KLARO in Germany even if that did mean travelling 10 miles to find phone signal in Dufftown!” Syd Ross, Water and Wastewater Specialist, Filpumps
