Alfredo's Butser Ancient Farm Blog

Work on the eco-friendly sewage treatment plant at Butser Ancient Farm is now come to an end. For nearly two weeks the build went ahead in challenging conditions of heavy rain and snow at an altitude of 170 metres (560 feet) above sea level.

The work meant that the proposed new visitor’s centre could be connected to the WPL sewage treatment plant and then in succession to a reed bed and wildlife pond. The massive plant was submerged in the chalky ground and hasn’t any visual impact on the rural setting.  It can easily treat the waste of the large amount of visitors all year long using an innovative and low energy system. In the Reed bed further treatment of the waste water takes place, especially in removal of nitrates. In time, the reed bed will be joined to a polishing pond, re-creating an interesting area for wild fauna and flora. The pond will also serve as a reservoir of water for irrigation. The whole plant will be commissioned in the summer of 2011 in time for the opening of the new visitor centre.

The sewage treatment plant has therefore a double purpose, environmental, reducing the risk of dangerous discharge to a minimum as well as educational for the visitors becoming aware to the problem of waste water and water recycling. 

I hope to help work on the educational support materials after I return to Italy.

Green-friendly technology will help wildlife

Ecoteric Systems are providing the innovative technology to work with nature in solving an age-old problem at a South Downs visitor attraction.

Butser directors Maureen Page and Simon Jay

Work has begun on a high-tech, sustainable new treatment system for the sewage produced by 23,000 visitors each year at Butser Ancient Farm, Chalton.

The £32,000 project will save hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, create new habitats for wildlife and cut dozens of sewage truck journeys each year.

It is also the first stage in a major development plan to provide a £200,000 eco-friendly visitor centre at the site, which is a replica of an Iron Age farm in the heart of the South Downs.

Simon Jay, director at Butser, said: 'Our plans will bring the farm up-to-date, provide great new facilities for visitors while harmonising with the rural location of the farm.

'Our over-riding concern is to ensure that any new development here is sustainable and fits in with our beautiful environment on the Downs.'

The sustainable sewage project involves harvesting rainwater from the new visitor centre and the entrance road and using it to flush toilets.

The waste will travel underground through pipes to a treatment plant, then through a reed-bed filtration system before emerging as clean water into a constructed pond and wetland area.

The project is partly funded by a £25,000 grant from the South Downs Joint Committee. The farm will foot the remainder of the bill.

Common Aims, Common Language

Ecoteric Systems are excited to announce they have been chosen as a Global partner of Shroff’s Engineering.

Shroff's Engineering Ltd are an Indian based manufacturer of submersible pumps, open well  submersible pumpsets, drainage pumps and mini monoblock pumps.. They are part of a larger group of companies that manufacture various Agro-Chemicals, pesticides and speciality chemicals and have a combined turnover of USD 200 million.

Shroff’s Engineering have recently ventured into Wastewater Recycling and their representative Director, Mr. Harshad Joshi, visited Ecoteric Systems late in October 2010. Harshad deliberately chose Ecoteric Systems because we are a small company and therefore operate flexibly with lower costs, and exhibit varied skills and projects.

Harshad has an M.B.A from The Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He has been actively involved in the Indian pump industry for two decades. and is a promoter and Executive Director of Shroffs engineering, a leading submersible Pump Manufacturing Company, which sell under the brand name ’PLUGA’. He was President of the Indian Pump Manufacturers Association (IPMA) . He has led delegations to China and Europe and represented the IPMA at various forums overseas.

With the ever-growing population of the India and the poor infrastructure, proper waste-water management has become essential. Conversely, the scarcity of water in the country demands that it be recycled. Hence, the potential for implementation of de-centralised waste-water recycling systems in India is large and it is with this in mind that Shroff’s Engineering chose Ecoteric Systems Ltd as their global partner. 

Shroff's are passionate about finding solutions to the world water issues as shared by Ecoteric Systems. Harshad hopes this is the beginning of an interesting and fruitful relationship between the two companies.

Shroff’s  aim is to develop a sewage treatment system package for potential new developments of small populations (several hundred persons) in the first instance.

Ecoteric Systems Ltd (www.ecotericsystems.co.uk) are environmental and water management consultants.

We can save you money by providing impartial advice on the installation of small & medium sized sewage systems that will help protect the environment.

We also provide consultancy, including design, build and maintenance of water purification systems in industrial processes for the purposes of recycling and conservation.

As our climate becomes drier and warmer, so the need to call on efficient, ecological purification systems (such as gravel bed hydroponics) grows at a rapid pace.

SAVE WATER SAVE MONEY

Call 0845 1303 891 or email – eco@ecotericsystems.co.uk

Alfredo Sinatora takes on our Butser Project

Hello!


Alfredo Sinatora


My name is Alfredo Sinatora and I come from Florence, Italy. 


Currently, I am undertaking an internship in the UK with Ecoteric Systems Limited based in Chichester, West Sussex.


I am an Agronomist with a Masters degree in Agricultural science from the University of Florence.  I have a strong interest in projects in developing countries and have undertaken studies on the ground in Senegal and Iraq.  


I became interested in the concept of Constructed Wetlands as water sanitation is becoming a huge problem, especially in Africa.


Thanks to financial aid from the EU Social Fund and the Tuscany Region I managed to secure a professional post at Ecoteric Systems.


This is proving to be a very interesting professional experience and I have the opportunity to play an important role working directly with the building of a constructed wetland system at Butser Ancient farm in Hampshire.


Butser Ancient Farm
The project starts on the 8th November 2010. 


My intentions are to bring added value into the installation process by offering my skills from other areas of my past experience, and then work carefully on an education package for school children and adult visitors.


Butser Ancient Farm,  ten miles north of Portsmouth and located in the recently designated South Downs National Park, is an open air museum of life in the Iron Age and Roman Periods. There are several reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses and a Roman villa. Ancient livestock breeds and crop varieties are grown at the farm. 


You can follow my progress on the project at Butser on our website news pages (www.ecotericsystems.co.uk) or by following us on Facebook and Twitter



Ecoteric Systems Ltd (www.ecotericsystems.co.uk) are
environmental and water management consultants. 


We can save you money by providing impartial advice on the
installation of small & medium sized sewage systems that will help protect
the environment.
We also provide consultancy, including design, build and
maintenance of water purification systems in industrial processes for the
purposes of recycling and conservation.
As our climate becomes drier and warmer, so the need to call
on efficient, ecological purification systems (such as gravel bed hydroponics)
grows at a rapid pace.
SAVE WATER SAVE MONEY

Constructed Wetlands at Butser Ancient Farm, near Portsmouth

Ecoteric Systems Ltd have successfully tendered for the installation of a waste water treatment plant and reed bed at Butser Ancient farm.

Butser Ancient Farm, ten miles north of Portsmouth and located in the recently designated South Downs National Park, is an open air museum of life in the Iron Age and Roman Periods.  There are several reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses and a Roman villa.  Ancient livestock breeds and crop varieties are grown at the farm.  The farm was founded in 1972 by the late Dr Peter Reynolds to test out archaeological theories by experiment.

As well as being open to the general public for a wide variety of events and special demonstrations, the farm places special focus on education and accommodates 14,000 school children through visits every year, as well as students through to postgraduate level.  A new visitor centre is proposed and the existing cesspool is to be made obsolete, to be replaced by a packaged sewage treatment plant and constructed wetland for tertiary treatment.  The Reed bed and polishing pond will be a further education feature for school children and adults alike.

The Farm, now managed by Simon Jay and Maureen Page forming the Butser Education Community Interest Company, has been awarded grant aid from the South Downs Sustainable Development Fund to deliver  this interesting and exciting project.  Ecoteric Systems Ltd have successfully tendered for the installation of the treatment plant and reed bed.  A featured polishing pond will be constructed and connected on a commercial farmers neighbouring land and a grant for this has been secured through English Heritage.  We are delighted to be invited to become involved in helping create an educational package and to promote the concept and building through the media.  


Work is scheduled to start on 8^th November and we shall keep you posted on the development and performance of the system.

Ecoteric Systems Ltd are environmental and water management consultants.

As water management consultants, we design, construct , monitor and maintain bespoke natural filtration systems, sewage treatment and treatment/purification systems.

Global water consumption is doubling at a rate that is more than twice the rate of population growth. Fresh water is a finite and precious resource, which has, in recent years, largely been taken for granted.

As our climate becomes drier and warmer, so the need to call on efficient, ecological purification systems (such as gravel bed hydroponics) grows at a rapid pace.

Our systems also maximise water conservation through recycling and water purification.