What was once a fertile region of the southeastern U.S., the Alabama Black Belt today is almost unrecognizable. In many areas, the rich, dark soil that the region was named for is now dense clay. The predominantly rural area is characterized by a majority Black population and low economic development. Residents do not have centralized sewer systems; instead, they rely on on-site wastewater treatment systems that use soil to help with filtration. That clay soil resists water percolation, the process of water moving through soil to reach groundwater, which means raw wastewater can remain on the surface of the ground, an unacceptable public health risk. The authors of a recent paper in the Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment review the status of wastewater collection, treatment, and management in the Black Belt and provide a number of recommendations to address the problem.
Researchers Jillian Maxcy-Brown, Tristan Wilson, Rachel Chai, Harry McCaskill IV, Amal Bakchan, Lacey Christian, Mark O. Barnett, Mark A. Elliott, and Kevin D. White found that in addition to the soil challenges, the socioeconomic characteristics and geography of the region make it difficult to provide affordable wastewater access. Neither centralized nor decentralized systems are a perfect solution. In their paper, “The Past, Present, and Future of Wastewater Management in Alabama’s Black Belt,” the authors propose a targeted suite of recommendations from financial, physical infrastructure, regulatory, and managerial considerations to ensure a sustainable future for proper wastewater management. Learn more about how this study can help engineers safely manage wastewater for the residents of the Black Belt of Alabama. Get the full results at https://doi.org/10.1061/JSWBAY.SWENG-561. The abstract is below.
Abstract
The Alabama Black Belt was originally named for its dark, fertile topsoil, which was well suited for growing cotton, and in the early 1800s was once one of the most prosperous regions of the United States. Currently home to over half a million residents, the region is characterized by its rural character, lack of economic development (up to 40% of the population in some counties is below the US poverty line), lower-than-average educational attainment, and lower-than-average access to health care. Many areas in the region have dense clay soils that swell when wet and become practically impermeable to water, making them unsuitable for conventional septic system drainfields. Although many residents are connected to centralized sewer networks, these centralized treatment systems have a history of permit violations. These socioeconomic and geographical challenges, along with the high cost of more advanced alternative on-site wastewater systems, have resulted in raw wastewater on the ground in many locales, which is a public health and environmental justice concern. In this paper, we describe the existing conditions, explain the ongoing challenges with wastewater management in the region, and propose a number of future solutions for this complex problem. The proposed solutions include developing appropriate funding, upgrading and expanding centralized sewer networks, developing decentralized cluster systems, updating regulations, digitizing permit data, developing responsible management entities, improving education and outreach programs, developing operator training and certification for decentralized systems, and adopting low-flow plumbing fixtures. Aside from public health and environmental considerations, proper wastewater management is an important infrastructure for economic development and revitalization of this proud and once-prosperous region. Although the efforts discussed in this paper focus on the Alabama Black Belt, they are also relevant to other geographical regions that have limited access to centralized sewer networks and the soil, climate, and/or geological conditions that prevent the implementation of conventional on-site wastewater treatment systems.
Learn more about how this scenario might apply to yours in the ASCE Library at https://doi.org/10.1061/JSWBAY.SWENG-561.
