Mapping assessment of the soil ability to disperse treated wastewater

Abstract

The choice of the adapted wastewater treatment systems in the rural areas takes into account many considerations as well technical as environmental, the concern of the discharge of the treated wastewater is one of those. The soil constitutes one of the two principal ways to discharge treated wastewater, with the surface water bodies. The need arises to have, for the Walloon Region (Belgium), a map assessing the soil capacity to disperse treated water. Indeed, the factors that influence the water dispersion in the soil are numerous and are not always easily understood by practical people. The purpose of the work presented here is to propose an evaluation method of the soil ability for the underground dispersion of treated wastewater, by a cartographic document, which covers the Walloon territory. The map is an application of the Soil Map of Belgium, it translates pedological information to answer a precise question: up to what extent is the soil ready to evacuate treated wastewater by a small wastewater treatment system?