Mike Clark, President of the Enviro-Klean Co., headquartered in Starlite Park near Zion Crossroads, provided the afternoon program for more than 120 members of the Virginia Environmental Health Association attending the group’s Annul Meeting on Friday, November 14 at the new Fluvanna County Library near Palmyra.
Clark’s presentation was on the subject of disposing of sewage effluent in constructed wetlands. His Power Point presentation outlined the advantages of using constructed wetlands as a means of replacing the use of sub-surface drip disposal or standard septic systems.
“The big advantage over the more traditional methods,” Clark told the group composed of health department officials and independent soil scientists, “is that it not only disposes of the the liquids created, but the plants in the wetlands consume the nutrients which feed the algae that are so destructive to bodies of water such as the Chesapeake Bay.”
His presentation showed pictures of the “working” constructed wetland which his firm built last year near Kents Store in Fluvanna County.
Following the presentation at the library, the meeting participants traveled to the Kents Store site where they observed the operation of the wetland, asking questions of Clark and his staff. Clark told the attendees that he believed this method of handling waste water without either contaminating ground water and feeding algae blooms is the “wave of the future.”
Enviro-Klean Co. was founded in 2003 and since then has designed, manufactured and installed more than 150 of the systems in rural areas of 14 counties in Central Virginia.