When Ron Laurent heard about the Red Tulip Project and its need for an onsite system, he wanted to get involved. A group of volunteers in Geauga County in northwest Ohio were working hard to build the first area sober house for women fighting opioid addiction, and Laurent felt the onsite industry could pitch in and help make the facility a reality.
“I thought it was a worthy cause because of the opioid epidemic across the country,” Laurent recalls. “I set up a meeting about the project with the Red Tulip board. We got into this conversation, and one thing led to another.”
At the time, Laurent served on the board of directors for the Ohio Onsite Wastewater Association and was about to be named president-elect of the organization. He was also an installing technician for DeBord/Benjamin Franklin Plumbing in Chardon. He felt compelled to rally the forces of the onsite industry to give the project a boost.
So Laurent coordinated donations of 100 percent of the equipment and labor needed to design and install a septic tank effluent pump system with a low-profile pressurized mound for the facility that is bigger than a typical residential dwelling.
The system was built on heavy clay soils with a shallow seasonal high water table, and the designers sized it a little larger than for the typical home (800 gpd) because there may at times be more occupants per bedroom, Laurent explains. It is expected that the average stay for residents will be 60 to 90 days, but they could stay up to two years through the treatment program.