Disposal of Brine

[Lisa Childers]

So it's come to my attention that I need an RO system and potentially a softener. AND its also been told to me that these systems create a waste water from the process. The property is very remote with no access to public utilities. Well Water and Septic Tank. What am I supposed to do with the brine created? It has some pretty nasty stuff that it would have removed from the water. I certainly wouldn't want to run it through the septic tank nor pour it out onto the ground since I would have invested in removing the ugly stuff from the water already once.

What do people do with this?

 

[Reach4]

One place is to dump that into a "dry well" -- a big hole filled with gravel.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[oldVermonter]

Generally speaking, the brine created from an RO system is simply a saltier version of your well water. As such, no problem to feed it to the septic system.

 

[LLigetfa]

The waste discharge from the RO filter is mostly just a concentration of what is already in the water plus some sodium from the water softener. It is the softener's chloride discharge that more of a concern as it can harm vegetation in higher concentrations. As the old adage says, the solution to pollution is dilution. Combining the discharge from the RO filter with the softener discharge along with a sump discharge and other grey water should dilute the chloride concentration enough. A dry well as was mentioned by reach4, would be good mixing pot for the dilution. Just make sure it is not too close to highly valued tree roots. I have lost a few trees when there was a dry spell that lowered the sump discharge level.

 

[Lisa Childers]

Wow. " solution to pollution is dilution". That's a good one!
So 2 of 3 say digging a dry well to dump a the "brine", or discharge into. More work. UGGG

Not too close to highly valued tree roots. Well that poses a significant problem. The reason I'm moving back to the family farm is to go into the maple syrup business. Any location is going to be bad for the sugar maples.

Dilution.... big collection tank diluted with water and dumped periodically into septic tank? If that would work, the safe concentration level would have to be known and tested before dumping. The leach lines go straight to the maples.

Why can't anything be simple?

 

[Reach4]

Wow. " solution to pollution is dilution". That's a good one!
So 2 of 3 say digging a dry well to dump a the "brine", or discharge into. More work. UGGG

Zero percent said the dry well was the only good solution.

Using the septic system is perfectly fine for the RO. There are different thoughts on the softener into the septic. https://www.water-right.com/homeowner-resources/septic-system-water-softener/ is on pro side for that, but there are reasonable disagreements.

 

[Eric Wesson]

A dry well and a septic leach field are very similar. In fact, the leach field is often deeper than a dry well would be.

The net effect of adding a softener to a water system with septic tank is to add a modest amount of salt to the leachate. Run your softener with high efficiency settings and don't worry about it. The leachate migrates downward from the leach field anyway.