Thanks to [1] wattsupwiththat.com:

PHYSORG.com
Jan. 9, 2011

Igloo-shaped ‘Poo-Gloos’ eat sewage

January 9, 2011 [2] Enlarge

Poo-Gloos — inexpensive devices to extend the lifespan of sewage lagoons for towns and small cities outgrowing their waste-treatment facilities — are half submerged as officials fill this sewage lagoon in Wellsville, Utah. The igloo-shaped devices are submerged when operating, and a new study shows they remove organic waste and other pollutants from sewage just as well as much more expensive mechanical sewage-treatment plants. Credit: Waste Compliance Systems Inc.

Inexpensive igloo-shaped, pollution-eating devices nicknamed “Poo-Gloos” can clean up sewage just as effectively as multimillion-dollar treatment facilities for towns outgrowing their waste-treatment lagoons, according to a new study.

“The results of this study show that it is possible to save communities with existing lagoon systems hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, by retrofitting their existing wastewater treatment facilities with Poo-Gloos,” says Fred Jaeger, chief executive officer of Wastewater Compliance Systems, Inc., which sells the Poo-Gloo under the name Bio-Dome….([3] Full Story)

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A few years ago I suggested to some members of our town council that it would be worth their while to check out a cheap system of aerating our sewage lagoon.  That would not require a large capital investment and not much more in the way of construction than to install perforated plastic hoses through which air would be discharged to keep the water in a lagoon turning over constantly.  The air could be pumped through the hoses by windmill-powered pumps.  Total costs would probably start up in the order of about $4,000 to $5,000.

Systems like that have been used successfully in lagoons to clear up and prevent odors in large hog productions and in some small towns.  For one thing, such a system of aeration would prevent the annual turn-over of the water in our sewage lagoon that regularly in the spring makes it very unpleasant to spend time outdoors in Bruderheim or any other town plagued by sewage smells from its lagoon.  However, that is not the only thing the system would do.  The research done to produce the aeration system described in the lead-in article showed that sewage water in lagoons can be treated within as short a time as 30 days instead of the year it takes now.

No one from the town council ever responded to the suggestion.  Perhaps, now that the principle of sewage-lagoon aeration has been elevated to a promising commercial level for community planning, it is time for our town council to take another look at what can be done to make life more pleasant in Bruderheim.