Our Story

After more than 25 years of working in the public sector as an environmental health specialist, Mark Huddleston established Huddleston DesignWorks in 2006 to pursue a "right livelihood" of designing sustainble, elegant onsite wastewater treatment systems, more commonly known as septic systems. Mark has over 25 years of experience in environmental health, with an emphasis in onsite sewage treatment system regulation. He's always enjoyed working outside, literally "in the field," interacting with the public and colleagues, evaluating soils and sites, working closely with regulators, designers, engineers, and installers, all with the goal of finding the most feasible and economical sewage treatment solution for a given property, while at the same time ensuring that public health and the environment are protected.

Gone are the days of "out of sight, out of mind" when it comes to dealing with sewage. In the past the goal simply was "get rid of it." There's now much more emphasis on personal responsibility, being aware of our own "ecological footprints," and treating sewage to prevent contamination of groundwater, surface water, prevent the spread of communicable diseases, and protect the environment (even enhancing it with, say, production of compost from "waste" products, or using treated sewage effluent instead of potable water for subsurface irrigation).

There are now many reliable options for septic systems based on well-established as well as relatively new technologies, some based on concepts such as drip irrigation and various forms of aeration and filtration, non-toxic disinfection with ultraviolet light (we like to avoid chlorine due to its toxicity and tendency to form carcinogens), as well as tried and true biological methods such as composting toilets, which are especially good at reducing wastewater flow, and thus the size of the drainfield for the remaining greywater (photo at right shows Mark cranking a Phoenix Composting Toilet chamber mixing lever under a public restroom facility on Whidbey Island). Even low-tech, conventional gravity septic systems can be incredibly effective at treating wastewater, as long as they're designed, installed, and maintained properly. Certain enhancements, such as larger tank size and installation of good effluent filters, can make them even more effective. Finally, Huddleston DesignWorks is closely watching the development of "green certification" standards for sewage treatment systems, and we hope to have more to report to you on that at a later date.