The National Botanic Garden of Wales has enhanced its green
credentials with an updated wastewater treatment system comprising
of aerated reed beds.
The system, which will treat the sewage from up to 2,000
visitors and 90 members of staff per day, was designed and built by
Staffordshire-based ARM Reed Beds.
Tori Sellers, director at ARM Reed Beds, explains:
"The National Botanic Garden of Wales came to us earlier this
year with a challenge: upgrade their existing wastewater treatment
system - an eleven-year-old Living Machine® and aeration tanks
- to handle increased visitor numbers while saving energy and
costs.
"Over the summer, a sensitive refurbishment programme was
initiated which included the implementation of state-of-the-art
forced bed aeration (FBA™) technology within the reed beds
and the removal of the Living Machine and aeration tanks. The
new system now takes up a far smaller physical footprint, has a
bigger treatment capacity and will save the Garden around
£7,000 in energy and maintenance costs every year."
Clive Edwards, head of facilities at the National Botanic Garden
of Wales, comments:
"Sustainability, in terms of environmental performance, is an
essential aspect of our work here at the garden. We are
constantly looking for new ways to lower our impact on the planet
while improving the visitor experience with more attractions - and
the upgrade to our 'poo palace' allows us to do just that.
Demonstrating and explaining our operational contribution to
sustainability is an important part of the visitor experience.
"The enhanced performance means more clean water for irrigating
our biomass plantation which, in turn, means less dependence on
heavy carbon fuels. The refurbishment of the system has also
allowed us to do away with the aerobic tanks and Living Machine and
free up the greenhouse that used to house them for additional
visitor attractions."
On a visit to the National Botanic Garden of Wales in September,
Prince Charles - patron of the organisation - praised the garden's
environmental focus and commented on the need to "leave a legacy
for future generations of a sustainable environment."
The project which was undertaken by the National Botanic Garden
in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government was completed in
autumn 2010 and comprises a septic tank which feeds into a
128m² vertical flow reed bed system with forced bed aeration
technology.