Pit additive

[3] Pit additive claims include an increase in speed of the breakdown of sludge, which may also decrease odor.

[1] Researchers from the U.S. carried out field experiments in 2011 to assess the effect of additives on the performance of 20 septic tanks.

[3] These septic tanks served residences at a mobile home park located in Orange County, North Carolina.

[citation needed] The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) produced a fact sheet on the use of pit additives to improve the performance of septic tank treatment systems.

[5] The fact sheet concludes that bacteria and extracellular enzymes do not appear to significantly enhance normal biological decomposition processes in septic tanks.

However, whether this relatively minor benefit is derived without compromising long-term viability of the soil infiltration system has not been demonstrated conclusively’.

Proponents claim the additives in wastewater can facilitate reduction in organic load and pathogen removal, leading to significant improvements in effluent quality.

One source claims that septic tank additives can reduce hydrogen sulphide and ammonia production.

Australian scientists investigated the effect of additives in a wastewater treatment plant and a number of septic tanks.

[9] During discussions at the Urban Resource Centre in Karachi in late 2011, the late Parveen Rehman of OPP stated that adding pit additives to the inlet chamber of these treatment facilities had resulted in improved effluent quality and a significant reduction in smell.

However, it seems that OPP had not attempted to quantify the improvement and had not made any formal assessment of the effect of the pit additive on effluent quality.