Rhizopods

The Rhizopod system is an on-site wastewater treatment technology that takes advantage of evapotranspiration – the loss of water from the soil by evaporation and by transpiration from plants. This product is a unique completely contained recirculating hydroponic pod arrangement which uses plants to beneficially use and disperse the wastewater from your site. It is independent of the local soil type, has a very small footprint, and allows for reduced setback distances.

Wastewater is treated to via either a package plant (AWTS) or a septic tank, and is then distributed to the self-contained pod in which suitable plants uptake effluent. Effluent overflow drains to a balance tank for recirculation through the system. The main advantage of this is that there is a reduced discharge or none, at all. The Rhizopod technology has been specifically designed for ‘difficult’ sites. If your block has heavy clay soils, high water-tables, nearby bores or waterways, or it’s just too small to fit both the house you want to build and the on-site wastewater technology; then the Rhizopod system is the solution you need.

For close to 20 years the Rhizopod system has been successfully installed in Australia to solve these types of problems. It can be used in new developments or retro-fitted onto existing houses.

From single dwellings, to caravan parks, to housing estates, the Rhizopod system has been used to provide wastewater solutions on previously undevelopable land.

The Rhizopod system can be retrofitted to existing holding tank installations to provide advanced treatment and reduce the cost of offsite disposal. Where existing holding tank installations are located in environmentally sensitive areas (eg fishing shack developments) and are failing or poorly managed, Rhizopod retrofits can improve community health, environmental outcomes, and provide other social benefits. The Rhizopod system can be used in situations where normal set back cannot be achieved, or the block is simply too small to allow traditional land application methods.

One of the advantages of this system is that there are a number of configurations and layouts that allows for installations for variable site conditions:

• Limited space;
• Unsuitable soils;
• Set back requirement issues;
• Elevations; and
• Retro-fits onto sites where previous on-site systems have failed