Something occurred to me during the Abbeyfield House AGM today. One of their biggest impediments to getting going on any construction is lack of sewer. They have now decided to start with an approx. 10 unit complex with very limited common spaces, so as to reduce initial costs. I thought with my mouth open and flapping, that maybe a workaround to the lack of a sewer pipe out front, would be to plumb in a largish septic tank, but with no outlet, fitted with a device to measure how full it is getting. Then, get it pumped and the sewage transported periodically- every week? to our new plant just down the road. Unlike septage, which is partially dewatered and has a much higher BOD, raw sewage is exactly what the plant is designed for. If a 'honey truck' were located on-island, I suspect the haulage cost to be fairly modest, particularly if it picked up Belterra and perhaps other new-build project waste. Is this unrealistic, already thought of and discarded, or a brilliant idea?
Obviously, this would be an interim solution- one to enable Abbeyfield (now Snug Cove House Society) to get going. If, as Anne Ayre says, they need to build the market units concurrently, then this model probably doesn't make sense. But, a $5000 tank and paying for septic haulage might tide the group over for a while...
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