CHESTER - The Municipality of Chester will soon have a state-of-the-art septage building and day tank to go along with its state-of-the-art dewatering truck.

 On September 29 council approved a $387,300 tender from Jetco Contracting Inc. to build the facilities.

 Warden Allen Webber said the project goes hand in hand with the municipality's recently unveiled $500,000 dewatering truck, designed to clean septic waste.

 "What the day tank does is it allows operators to dump their septage at any given time and the dewatering truck separates it when it's available," he said.

 Solid waste manager Dave Daniels said when the municipality unveiled the truck it promised not to impede on the private waste-management sector.

 "We currently have four operators in the area and we said we wouldn't impose upon them," he said. "This allows them to keep their business and at the same time the septage gets treated."

 The new tank and building, which will house the dewatering truck allowing it to be used year-round, will be built at Kaizer Meadow Landfill. The tank will be able to hold about four days worth of septage deliveries before it has to be emptied.

 It was last February when the municipality presented its dewatering truck to the public, becoming the first Nova Scotia municipality to offer such a service.

 The technology behind the truck, a combination of Norwegian technology and German engineering, is credited with reducing the possibility of septic failure by putting the liquid portion back into the system. The truck is a more cost-effective system and the hope is it may encourage septic tank owners to pump their systems more often.

 The new technology means fewer trips to and from discharge locations for septic pumpers because the truck can handle 10 times more waste than the trucks of today.

posted on 10/07/08