Effluent sewer
Effluent sewers also currently serve fewer people than septic systems, which also use septic tanks, but simply dispose of the effluent by draining it into a leach field. About one quarter of United States homes dispose of their wastewater with septic tanks. However, effluent sewers are being looked at as a sewage treatment solution in areas where gravity sewer systems are not well-suited or when the high capital cost to build a gravity system is prohibitive. Areas that are less than ideal for gravity systems include areas that are large, but extremely flat and areas that require long-distance pumping, such as where homes are widely spread out or when several small villages or towns connect their sewage systems so that a centralized plant can be built.
Pollution on Cape Cod
Prior to spending billions to install Central Sewer Plants, extensive networks of pipelines and thereby causing major disruptions to natural systems, and possibly doing great harm, a thorough and extensive evaluation is needed to avoid major damage and costs without reducing (or possibly increasing) the environmental damage on Cape Cod.
In Cape Cod, Massachusetts, small ponds in the inland areas and the surrounding waters of the Atlantic Ocean have become increasingly polluted over the years. The main pollutant considered to be problematic in these waters is nitrogen. The large amount of nitrogen in the water stems from the widespread use of private septic tanks in homes instead of the use of a town-owned sewer. This is because many Cape Cod towns opted out of purchasing sewer systems when the federal government subsidized them in the 1960s and 1970s for fear of attracting too many new homeowners to the communities. However, Cape Cod communities still grew despite the lack of public sewage systems, which resulted in the installation of many septic tanks in new homes.