MoundBuster Disposal Field

Project Information

Date: June, 2009
Location: Bailey Island, Maine
Facility: 2 Seasonal Cottages
Design Flow: 630 Gallons per Day
Wastewater Type: Residential

MoundBuster is an innovative wastewater disposal field uniquely designed to lower the mounding profile and footprint of conventional disposal field systems. The MoundBuster System has the smallest footprint in standard configuration of any system approved in Maine. MoundBuster is provisionally approved for use in the State of Maine and it is approved to be used only with the OxyPro advanced treatment unit (ATU).

The MoundBuster size is minimized because the OxyPro ATU provides a high degree of wastewater treatment. Conventional systems send organic-rich, oxygen-poor water to the disposal field. Anaerobic bacteria consume the organic material and cause clogging in the disposal field. Since conventional disposal field sizing is based to a great extent on that clogging, disposal fields need to be large to take into account the slow permeability of the clogging zone surrounding the disposal field. The OxyPro ATU produces effluent with very little organic material and a high oxygen content. This helps to prevent anaerobic bacteria from becoming a problem in the disposal field. Since the MoundBuster receives relatively clean wastewater from the OxyPro ATU unit, the MoundBuster disposal field can be sized based primarily on the permeability of the natural soil.

An additional feature of the MoundBuster disposal field that is different than most conventional systems is its flexibility on difficult sites in areas where the disposal field needs to curve around shallow bedrock or water table features requiring non-rectangular shapes. Since the MoundBuster pipe is flexible, many disposal field shapes are possible. Another feature of flexibility for the MoundBuster system is the ability to design the system around small areas of non-permitted soils or shallow bedrock by substituting non-perforated pipe where a non-permitted feature underlies a portion of the system.