The Watson Wick type blackwater/graywater biofilter I've installed at an 'eco-house' project near Hilo is now in semi-regular use. Two of the landowner's daughters are now living in the house part-time, and the building is also used on an irregular basis for family gatherings and parties. Use is light on average, with short-term heavy loads when there's an event at the locale.

In two monitorings some months apart, it's basically too early to tell how well the biofilter will perform. There's nothing that looks like major failure - after two months of very wet late fall/early winter weather, there appeared to be no issues with waterlogging of the wick. At the same time, after four-plus weeks of unusually dry weather and then several days of recent heavy rains, the wick seems to be wetter at the bottom than I would expect. This may be due to recent heavy use for a family event, so a follow-up inspection is planned. Also the plantings on the wick are still fewer than there ought to be and only just starting to take hold, so transpiration is less than it will be in future.