The Government of Ontario plans to ban the land application of untreated septage; however, most town wastewater treatment plants do not have the capacity to accept septage. A combined reed bed – freezing bed technology has been successfully developed to dewater and treat septage. Lab column studies established that freeze-thaw conditioning can restore drainage in clogged sand drying beds dosed with common biological sludges and that septage can be dosed at 10 cm/week for 2.5-5.0 months before clogging is observed. Pilot studies showed that freezing beds can operate without the need for a cover with the applied sludge effectively melting any snow cover in regions with moderate snowfall. Septage freezing was successfully modelled following an accepted model for ice formation on water bodies while septage thawing was modelled using a regression analysis with initial frozen depth and precipitation found to be insignificant and degree days of warming controlling the rate of thawing. Model results were utilized to produce a freezing bed design loading map for North America based on temperature normals. Field scale planted and unplanted reed bed – freezing bed systems were constructed and tested with varying hydraulic loading rates (1.9-5.9 m/y) and solid loading rates (43-144 kg/m2/y) over a 5 year period resulting in a recommended design hydraulic loading rate of 2.9 m/y or 75 kg/m2/y. Drainage rates doubled after freeze-thaw conditioning compared to during the growing season, suggesting that freeze-thaw conditioning restores filter hydraulic conductivity. No effect of solid loading rate, planted versus unplanted filters and 7 versus 21 d dosing cycles on filter drainage was observed; however, drainage varied significantly with hydraulic loading rate. The filters separated almost all contaminants with filtrate equivalent to a low-strength domestic wastewater which can be easily treated in any municipal or decentralized wastewater system. The dewatered sludge cake had similar nutrient and solid content to a solid dairy manure and met biosolid land application standards in terms of metals and pathogens. The combined reed bed-freezing bed technology can provide a low-cost solution for the treatment and reuse of septage in cold-climate regions.