Dr. Tom Ryan:

I have the report on the research that was done here in front of me, and these systems are performing very well for some of the constituents of the receiving effluent. Part of the study looked at where effluent, which is not raw effluent, is put into the system, and compared it, and while it does work very well, it does not work for E. coli. This is the real problem. These systems are not yet at a level of efficiency where they can remove E. coli, although they are getting there. It may not have anything to do with a combination of polishing, but may be related to the design, or protecting the system from the ingress of rainwater. Those are the kinds of issues future research would look at. They are doing very well on some of the nutrients but are not doing as well on E. coli, which is the key one. If a system like that is put in, there will be residual E. coli ponding and building in the locality, which will cause attendant health risks.