The development of waste water‐induced soil clogging in subsurface wastewater infiltration systems is investigated in the field over a 70‐mo period. Domestic septic tank effluent (DSTE), graywater septic tank effluent (GSTE), and tapwater (TW) are intermittently applied at 1.3, 2.6, and 5.2 cm/day to replicate 0.9‐m diameter pilot‐scale wastewater infiltration systems installed in situ in a structured silty clay loam subsoil. Soil clogging development is negligible under all TW loadings and under GSTE loadings at 1.3 and 2.6 cm/day. Under GSTE loadings at 5.2 cm/day and under all DSTE loadings, severe soil clogging development leads to continuous ponding of the soil infiltrative surfaces. A logistic model fit to the experimental data confirms that soil clogging development is highly correlated with the cumulative mass density loadings of total biochemical oxygen demand and suspended solids (R2=0.95). Wastewater composition as well as hydraulic loading rate need to be considered in system design and management.
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Siegrist et al. (1987) studied this question.
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