Installation of Subsurface Drip Irrigation

We offer the installation of sub-surface drip irrigation (“SDI”) absorption fields.  This newer technology allows the owner to put septic tank effluent to beneficial use, both to irrigate and to feed landscape plantings.  It can be used to water and feed lawn turf grass, bushes, flowers and tree plantings.

The traditional absorption bed or trench systems, as well as the engineered low-pressure pipe systems ( known as “Bell-Patt” or “low pressure drip”), are laid out in Cartesian fashion and create a lush green rectangle out in the pasture where it is not needed, while the homeowner who has mature landscaping closer to the house or elsewhere on the property still must install a fresh water  irrigation system to water his lawns and other plantings. 

We have severe water shortages in Colorado and no one knows when things will return to “normal”.  In normal years, we do not have enough ground water in the Denver Basin aquifers to serve our current population over time; the aquifers do not recharge at the rate we are taking it out, even in the wettest years.  SDI will help reduce our water consumption by applying the wastewater where it can do the most good.  And it puts the water in at the root zone, saving the 25%-30% lost to the atmosphere by traditional sprinkler systems.

The method involves installing ½” diameter flexible tubing at a depth of 6”, spaced at18” or 24”.  The emitters installed inside the tubing measure out wastewater at a rate of ½ gallon per hour.  The tubing can be installed in a lawn to water and feed the entire lawn.  It can be run along a windbreak or visual/noise screening tree planting at the perimeter of the property or along roadways.  It can be installed for agricultural row crops for a vegetable garden.

For lawns, a household can water, without fresh water supplementation and during the hottest months of the summer, the following lawn areas: 2 people = 1660 SF; 4 people = 3320 SF, or a rate of 830 SF per person.

The cost of a septic system with SDI irrigation is close to the cost of an engineered system - $7,000 to $12,000, depending on the size of your system.

SDI can be added as a supplement to your existing system, whether standard traditional gravity flow or engineered,  and it will water and feed wherever and whenever you choose.

Call us for more information.