Center Wins University-wide Innovation Challenge

January 5, 2025 - Onsite septic systems are a major source of pollution across the country and on Long Island.  More than a quarter of US homes discharge household wastewater to ground and upgrading these systems is a major expense.  Solutions developed to date involve the installation of ‘mini-sewage treatment plants’ that cost tens of thousands of dollars and represents a major construction project that can be disruptive as old systems are excavated and new ones, that require electric and sometimes additional infrastructure, are installed.  This combination of excessive cost and disruption of homes has been a major impediment to replacing and upgrading old and failing onsite septic systems.  Recognizing this problem, the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology has developed a new innovative and alternative onsite septic system that can be seamlessly retrofit into system infrastructure.  Last month, Stony Brook University recognized the critical nature of the problem and the simplicity and effectiveness of the Center’s Low Nitrogen Septic System Retrofit as it was selected as one of four winners at the Stony Brook University Brook & Beyond Challenge.  As a major R1 University, competition was stiff, as the Center competed with breakthrough discoveries in the fields of medicine, science, and engineering.

Onsite wastewater and associated nitrogen pollution is a significant threat to groundwater, drinking water, and surface waters.  Excessive nitrogen can promote harmful algal blooms, low dissolved oxygen levels, fish kills, and shellfish poisoning. In addition to surface water quality problems, excess nitrogen in drinking water may be a public health threat. Suffolk County public water is in the top 5% of nitrate levels in the US and high nitrate levels in drinking water have been associated with increased cancer risks. 

To address this issue locally, Suffolk County has established an Innovation/Alternative On-Site Wastewater Treatment program that established a nitrogen discharge standard at 19 mg/L. While there are currently I/A technologies that meet that standard, conversion to new systems has been slow as due to the aforementioned property disruption and high costs.

The Center’s Low Nitrogen Septic System Retrofit, conceived by Center Staff member, Tom Varley, is meant to convert existing septic systems into a low-nitrogen system for low cost and minimal disruption.  Initial performance testing of the retrofit system has demonstrated it reduces nitrogen to less than 10 mg/L and, by reusing existing infrastructure, installation costs are minimized with less property disruption, likely increasing homeowner acceptance. 

As a winner of the Brook and Beyond Challenge, the University will support the advancement of the Low Nitrogen Septic System Retrofit by helping to advance the designs toward widespread implementation.  It is anticipated this technological breakthrough will help transform the nitrogen pollution in Suffolk County and far beyond.