Expert service providing independent advice in the off-mains drainage industry.
Dr Dirk Daude offers clear, friendly and efficient solutions to off-mains drainage and wastewater treatment challenges. He audits sewage systems and designs fast and effective fixes. Dirk implements repairs to existing wastewater treatment package plants and recommends maintenance and management regimes that minimise odours and noise and ensure low operational costs. Dirk’s expert advice includes redeveloping out-of-date and limited capacity wastewater treatment systems to maximise efficiency at minimal cost to the client and the environment. He specialises in designing refurbishments which capitalise on the equipment already in place with innovative upgrades including strategies for energy efficiency. Dirk’s guiding principle is to renovate and recycle as much as possible of the existing plant and only replace those elements which improve efficiency and upgrade the quality of the effluent discharged into the environment.
Dirk works closely with the Environment Agency and British Water. He is an accredited wastewater treatment plant service technician and qualified to train others to the same standard. Dirk is familiar with the regulatory and legal frameworks for septic tanks and package sewage treatment plants including permits, registration requirements, exemption criteria and the appropriate British Standards. He implements the BW codes of practice for small wastewater treatment systems and is an expert in groundwater source protection measures and final effluent quality management.
Dirk undertakes detailed site assessments of wastewater treatment systems – their current performance, likely sustainability and future capacity, including potential for upscaling and upgrading the quantity and quality of the wastewater discharged into the environment. A comprehensive audit establishes the demands on a sewage system to highlights cost-effective solutions.
Field sampling, laboratory analysis and data flow calculations all contribute to Dirk’s understanding of a system’s efficiency and facilitate recommendations for maintaining, improving or overhauling wastewater processing plant equipment and control mechanisms. Dirk works with the National Measurement Accreditation Service to provide independent sample results.
Dirk has successfully worked with clients on a range of facilities for commercial locations and private residences to design bespoke sewage solutions which are effective, energy efficient and discrete (including options for solar power, submerged aerated filters, nitrification units and monitoring systems, as appropriate) - all in keeping with their pristine surroundings.
Retallack Resort, Cornwall
The Greyhound Pub, Besselsleigh
Winkworth Arboretum, Surrey
Dirk has more than 25 years’ experience in the wastewater treatment industry since studying for a degree in process engineering at the University of Bremen (Germany). He is one of the few people with a doctoral degree in wastewater process engineering, which he researched at Cranfield University (United Kingdom). Since 2004, he has undertaken feasibility studies, designed new systems and redeveloped out-of-date sewage processing facilities for a wide variety of clients in rural settings including garden centres, country pubs, rural hotels, spa resorts, caravan parks, campsites, heritage sites, leisure attractions, conference centres, schools and colleges, nursing homes and private residences – all with fluctuating weekly and seasonal visitor flow.
Since working on the development and evaluation of a package wastewater treatment plan for his doctorate, Dirk has designed and built a range of treatment plants, including the Ocean Classic and the Ocean Professional, with capacity for small housing schemes with as few as a single household up to commercial companies with a 4,000 population.