Research Interests:  On-site wastewater management, Effluent treatment and pathways in soil and groundwater

Postgraduate Degree: PhD – “Sustainable on-site wastewater treatment: Predicting the long term behaviour of septic tank-soil absorption systems”

Country of Origin: Australia

Supervisors: Associate Professor Neal Menzies, Mr Ted Gardner, Dr Gunnar Kirchhof  

Research Funding: Coastal CRC, Indooroopilly, Queensland

Project Outline: Septic absorption trenches are the most common form of on-site disposal technology in Australia but have a history of poor long term performance and have been linked to ground and surface water pollution.  The performance of septic trenches are strongly influenced by the development and resistance of a biological zone (biomat) on the infiltrative surface of septic trenches.

Some major aims of the project are to:

• Investigate the hydrology and biogeochemistry of septic absorption trenches
• Investigate the hydraulic retardance of the biomat (clogging layer) and the interaction of this with soil hydraulic properties to determine long-term acceptance rate (LTAR)
• Develop a method of predicting the increase in hydraulic retardance of the biomat and consequently the design loading rates (LTARs) for a different soil textures common to SE Qld.

E-mail Address: c.beal@.uq.edu.au

Phone Number: Office: (07) 3346 9546 Mob: 0418 789 420

Recent Publications

Beal CD, Gardner EA, Vieritz AM, Menzies NW (2003) Can we predict failure of septic tank- soil absorption systems? A review of their hydrology and biogeochemistry. In 'Proceedings of On-site '03 Conference Armidale, NSW. (Ed. RA Patterson) pp. 69-76.

Beal CD, Gardner EA, Vieritz AM, Menzies NW (2004) The role of the biomat in the sustainable performance of soil absorption systems in Australia: A review. In 'Tenth National Symposium on Individual and Small Community Sewage Systems'. March 21-24, Sacramento, California. (Ed. KR Mankin) pp. 241-248.