Biochar for Small City Wastewater Treatment

In 2019 a team of Iowa State University engineering students including former ARTi interns Joseph Sabas and Denver Robak sought to help address the problems of wastewater treatment experienced by the small town of Rinard, Iowa. The tiny town of Rinard with a population of 50 citizens faces a confluence of challenges as do many such towns in the US and elsewhere. First of all, a projected continued population exodus does not bode well for future town revenues. Secondly, regulations regarding wastewater treatment have become more stringent and are predicted to continue to be so. Additionally, the existing system is over 30 years old and has not been actively maintained during this time. Correspondingly, an updated system would also have to be passive requiring little or no active maintenance as the town lacks both the people and the financial resources. Lastly, the improvements to the wastewater treatment system faced legal time deadlines and environmental stewardship concerns which were also important to the community and the student engineering team.