NSF Convergence Accelerator Track K: Towards Resilient, Equitable, Safe and Sustainable Water for Islands (RESSI-H2O)

Island water resources are vulnerable to myriad threats, including freshwater depletion, surface and groundwater contamination, and saltwater intrusion. One unique challenge for islands is wastewater management. Due to the geology and geography of U.S.

Pacific islands, onsite wastewater management often defaults to cesspools (a subsurface holding area that offers no treatment). For example, Hawaii alone has over 83,000 cesspools, which unfortunately do not provide treatment of human wastes. Each day, an estimated 52 million gallons of wastewater leak through porous volcanic soil into the surroundings, contaminating aquifers and coastal environments with nutrients and pathogens.

In short, the prevailing onsite wastewater infrastructure on most U.S. Pacific islands is inadequate and poses a threat to island water supplies, damages marine ecosystems, coral reefs and fisheries, and often disproportionately affects disadvantaged communities. Conventional sewer-based centralized wastewater systems or onsite septic tanks are unsuitable and inadequate in many areas as replacements for cesspools.

There is an urgent need to develop or introduce novel decentralized wastewater technologies and implementation strategies which can effectively provide protection to human health and the environment. These solutions need to be site-appropriate, resilient, fairly deployed, safe and sustainable (RESS guiding principles). They also must consider current and future threats from climate variability and development.

If the wastewater can be treated to a high level of purity, the recycled water can help alleviate the over-extraction of the island’s freshwater supply. To tackle these challenges, this project assembles a team of water professionals (including engineers, sociologists, hydrologists, economists, oceanographers, policy analysts, climate variability specialists, community organizers, and writers) from the University of South Florida, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations, Michigan State University, and Swiftwater Solutions, LLC.

Using the islands of Hawaii as a model for developing island-appropriate solutions, the team will develop innovative circular economy-based decentralized wastewater management technologies and strategies to meet the unique needs of U.S. Pacific islands.

Phase 1 of the RESSI-H2O project is comprised of four thrusts. Thrust 1 includes team building and data gap analysis. Thrust 2 involves research and lab-scale testing of a novel household-level iron-cycling biofilter as replacement for traditional drainfields.

Thrust 3 focuses on the development of a novel water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) micro-grid utilizing the NEWgenerator resource recovery machine. Thrust 4 evaluates the technology impacts and uptake barriers/opportunities of the technologies from Thrusts 2 and 3 using RESS criteria. Intellectual merit: The team will create 1) a proof-of-concept, island-appropriate, prototype RESSI-H2O decentralized wastewater infrastructure system, and 2) an initial framework for a RESSI-H2O decentralized wastewater rating system.

Broader impacts: Working with community partners, local wastewater professionals, and the Native Hawaiian Science and Engineering Mentoring Program, the team will spur participation by both students and researchers and engage the community to assist under-resourced residents with cesspools in Hawaii. The eventual goals of Phase 2 are to field test, demonstrate, and scale the decentralized wastewater infrastructure technologies developed through this project, launch the RESSI-H2O rating system, and engage additional partners throughout the Pacific Islands Region.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.