Yesterday, I was reporting on the pneumatic collection of household refuse in the island capital, Palma. In country properties up and down Mallorca there is a different problem, that of wastewater and its reclamation. In the countryside, you would normally not have a communal or municipal conveying system of ducts or channels to collect fecal waste. It is rather a matter of each one to his (or her) own. Country properties would have a private septic tank or pozo negro on their property, usually a construction of three inter-connected chambers with the last one allowing the waste liquid to flow or leak slowly through porous material or small holes. The non-liquid stuff hardens with time and fills up over the years. Friends of ours had the need to have their septic tank emptied yesterday and, luckily, the friendly set-up of Limpiezas Toni & Jaime S.L. was available and willing to come and do an emergency suck-away job. It took them less than 30 minutes to empty the full septic waste tank. I don’t know where they take the fecal waste matter but I suppose it will be to a municipal treatment facility. The charge was 120 € in case you should be interested.

There may well be an economic crisis here in Spain but, believe it or not, there is enough waste matter around to make a living for the likes of Toni and Jaime. Their job may get a bit smelly but perhaps one can get used to the odors.

The photos were taken near Felanitx, Mallorca. The date: August 9th, 2012. The time was 13:40:54 and 13:41:34, respectively.