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1. Agricultural activities – arable and animal husbandry on the farm;
2. Wastes from 'protective' chemicals and fuels used to 'work' the farm;
3. Wastes from people who operate the farm;
4. Wastes from guests/customers who visit (specialist) farms e.g. wineries.
   

Unlike most other industries, farms seldom have discharge access to municipal systems so the farmer has to ensure that all his effluent is catered for.

BIO-SYSTEMS has a tried and tested protocol for treating agricultural effluent streams. The process – from the removal of solids to final discharge – is efficient and extremely cost effective. With our help agricultural effluent need not be a problem for the farmer, or indeed, the environment.

The manufacturing farmer should select a consultant who is fully conversant with the treatment of the effluent that is being produced. Inexperience, lack of know-how and negligence can lead to expensive mistakes that will ultimately result in poor quality effluent being discharged. There are up to 10 specific activities that comprise the full treatment process of most effluent streams. These must be conducted correctly and in sequence to achieve the discharge of optimally acceptable wastewater.

BIO-SYSTEMS can assist with the design of virtually any effluent system. We have a wide network of consultants and engineers with practical hands-on experience, as well as the biological additives to make the system work.

Slurry pond aeration

What is agricultural effluent?

Any liquid waste that is generated by agricultural activities, such as…

• Organic wastes – animal wastes (typically called 'manure slurries'), arable wastes (such as sugarcane bogasse and vegetable leachates), and cannery and winery wastes;

• Processing wastes – cannery, winery, abattoir and dairy;

• Mechanical and chemical wastes – fuels and lubricants from crop processing and crop protection chemicals;

• Human wastes – septic tanks and pit latrines;

• Catering wastes – canteen kitchens, communal food preparation kitchens serving seasonal or permanent staff, game lodges, etc.

Duckweed before and after Bio-Systems treatment

Managing agricultural effluent

This depends on the size and complexity of the enterprise. Some agricultural activities, such as timber pulp and paper factories, wineries, canneries and abattoirs are full-time processing factories – even though they may work in cycles to coincide with crop harvesting. Often the eight months or so 'downtime' is devoted to container washing and maintenance, but the remaining four months of processing are frequently 24/7. However, dairy and cheese factories are among several exceptions because they work consistently every day.

It is important that the effluent plant is designed to cope with the maximum flow. Virtually all processing plants depend upon water for the conveyance of liquid wastes through the 'factory'.