Sewage containment system

Abstract

A shallow, elongate, portable sewage containment vessel can be positioned at ground level adjacent to one or more relocatable buildings at wellsites and construction sites to receive domestic or industrial waste liquids from the buildings by gravity drainage. The roof member of the vessel has an elongate slot for snugly receiving an insert member made of a plastic or other readily drillable material. Holes may be drilled in the field at any convenient location in the insert member so that inlet piping from the sewage outlets of one or more buildings can be connected to the vessel. The vessel also has a connection for a vacuum truck or other equipment for removing the sewage from the vessel. When the buildings are moved from the site, the containment vessels may be drained and then conveniently moved from the site, to be cleaned as appropriate and installed on a different site as desired. The insert members that were drilled to receive sewage piping may be discarded and replaced with new insert members for the vessels' next use.

1 . A portable sewage containment system, for receiving and temporarily retaining liquid sewage from a relocatable building having a sewage outlet, said sewage containment system comprising: 
 (a) an elongate containment vessel having a roof member and a base member, and having side walls interconnecting said upper and base members, said roof member having an access opening; and    (b) an insert member adapted to matingly engage said access opening;    wherein:    (c) the insert member is made of a drillable material;    (d) a plumbing port may be formed in the insert member at a selected location to receive a plumbed connection from the sewage outlet of the relocatable building; and    (e) the containment vessel further comprises drain connection means, to facilitate extraction of sewage from the containment vessel.    
   
   
       2 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the insert member engages the access opening in substantially liquid-tight fashion.  
   
   
       3 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the access opening is an elongate access slot.  
   
   
       4 . The sewage containment system of  claim 3  wherein the access slot extends substantially the full length of the containment vessel.  
   
   
       5 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the access opening is of curvilinear shape.  
   
   
       6 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the access opening is of polygonal shape.  
   
   
       7 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the drain connection means comprises an open pipe extending downward from the roof member of the containment vessel and terminating at a point above the base member of the vessel.  
   
   
       8 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the drain connection means comprises a vacuum fitting, to facilitate extraction of sewage from the containment vessel by vacuum means.  
   
   
       9 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a camlock fitting associated with the drain connection.  
   
   
       10 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1 , further comprising fluid level alarm means.  
   
   
       11 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1 , further comprising heating means for heating sewage contained within the containment vessel.  
   
   
       12 . The sewage containment system of  claim 11  wherein the heating means is a submersible heater.  
   
   
       13 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein containment vessel further comprises one or more internal baffles.  
   
   
       14 . The sewage containment system of  claim 13  wherein the one or more internal baffles have perforations.  
   
   
       15 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein a portion of the base member of the containment vessel slopes toward the drain connection.  
   
   
       16 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the base member of the containment vessel defines a well section associated with the drain connection.  
   
   
       17 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein containment vessel further comprises a plurality of lifting lugs.  
   
   
       18 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the material from which the containment vessel is fabricated comprises a corrosion-resistant material.  
   
   
       19 . The sewage containment system of  claim 18  wherein the corrosion-resistant material comprises stainless steel.  
   
   
       20 . The sewage containment system of  claim 18  wherein the corrosion-resistant material comprises a plastic.  
   
   
       21 . The sewage containment system of  claim 20  wherein the plastic is selected from the group consisting of polypropylene and high-density polyethylene.  
   
   
       22 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the drillable material from which the insert member is fabricated comprises a plastic.  
   
   
       23 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a vent associated with the containment vessel, said vent adapted to vent vapours within the containment vessel.  
   
   
       24 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the containment vessel further comprises a plurality of wheels to facilitate transportation of the vessel.  
   
   
       25 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1  wherein the height of the containment vessel walls is selected such that when the containment vessel is positioned on grade adjacent to the relocatable building, sewage can flow by gravity from the sewage outlet of the building into the containment vessel.  
   
   
       26 . The sewage containment system of  claim 1 , further comprising pump means for pumping sewage from the relocatable building into the containment vessel.