Morningside Village Septic System Upgrade Under Development

Morningside Village is a community of 47 dwellings located in the headwaters of the Nanticoke River in Sussex County, Delaware.  The Morningside Village Homeowners Association has been plagued with problems with their 9,360 gallon per day wastewater treatment system.  The problems with Morningside’s system stem from soil compaction which has lead to wastewater surfacing over the years.  Numerous attempts have been made to try and correct this problem, including the installation of additional disposal areas and relief trenches.  Unfortunately, none of these fixes have been successful.

An on-site wastewater disposal system typically consists of four components:

• a septic tank
• distribution box or pumps
• dosing chamber
• a drain field.

If properly maintained, an onsite wastewater treatment and disposal system can last 15 to 20 years.  The septic tank collects wastewater from the residences.  The distribution box spreads the effluent out in the drain field.  The dosing chamber houses the pumps.  

The drain field is a system of open-jointed or perforated piping within a seepage system such as a gravel envelope that receives the flow from septic tanks and is designed to distribute the wastewater or effluent into the soil below the piping and gravel envelope.  The wastewater is essentially filtered in the soil below the system.

DNREC is working with Morningside Village to upgrade the wastewater treatment system and bring it into compliance.  Two additional disposal fields consisting of trenches have been designed to work in conjunction with the existing beds in the drain field.   A filtering device has also been designed and will be installed to prevent solids from entering the field.  The upgrade also includes a new control panel to allow better operational control.   Components will be checked and reset to make sure the system is operating as designed.  Each bed within the drain field will be checked to determine if each section is receiving a share of the total wastewater load generated.  The licensed system operator is also trying to establish a pumping schedule that will keep the effluent from surfacing and remaining a health and environmental concern for the community.

These modifications will cost around $85,000.  Funding for the project has been provided through a state loan and grants, including a $50,000 grant from the Chesapeake Bay Program, a $10,000 grant from the state's 21st Century Fund, and a loan from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund Extended Users Program.  When completed, the upgrade could reduce the amount of nutrients entering the Nanticoke River by as much as 515 lbs of nitrogen and 22 lbs of phosphorus per year.