Scientists from Alabama A&M University investigated the status of domestic wastewater treatment in the black land prairie (Black Belt) region of Central Alabama. The soils of that area are montmorillonitic clays overlaying limestone or chalk which shrink, swell, and crack and have poor internal drainage. Water accumulates on or near the surface in wet weather and septic tank systems often fail. A survey found that there are more than 70 approved centralized wastewater treatment facilities in the 11 county area. However, the residents of most villages and small towns do not have access to centralized waste treatment. We propose that a relatively low cost treatment option could use individual septic tanks for primary treatment with the effluent being collected for further treatment in a sand filter, lagoon or wetland or used for irrigating non-food crops. Using Dallas County, Alabama for a pilot project, we used a county-wide aerial ortho-photograph along with ARC-GIS 9.1 computer technology to identify 11 rural housing concentrations where centralized effluent concentration appears to be feasible. We believe that a public utility with the ability to issue bonds or raise money by some other means could install such a wastewater treatment system and retire the debt with a monthly fee for service from each homeowner. The aerial photos can be obtained from the USDA FAS aerial photography field office, 2222 West 2300 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84119-2020.