Greening of Aiken Hydrologic Cycle and Wastewater Treatment Presented by: Laurel Bourret, Dave Brownlow, Zach Carson, Eammon Coughlin, Linky le Roux, Anne Morrison, Blake Rainville, Adam Sieffert and Dave Whiteside

Goals  Reduce water use in Aiken  Reduce nutrient outputs to Lake Champlain  Close water cycles by treating and reusing graywater and rainwater  Provide examples of green technologies (i.e. Living Machines), which can be used as an educational tool for both the University and the Burlington community

Phoenix Composting Toilets  Model PF-201 sustains 100 visits per day or 36,000 per 75 o F  Maintenance in the form of manual turns of compost  Vertical composting design  One unit mounts two pedestals per reactor  Costs $5,800 per unit

Super Efficient Toilets IfoCera ES4  Uses a two phase turbo siphon  1.2 gallons per flush  Initial system costs: $4760 ($340 per unit)

AirFlush urinals  Requires no water to flush  Integral fan uses 26 kW per year  Designed for heavy usage  Requires central trap

Low Flow Shower Heads: The ETL Shower Head  Uses 1.75 gallons per 60 psi; regular shower heads use 2.20 gallons per minute  Self pressurizes  A single family can save 60, ,000 gallons of hot water per year  Initial system cost: $180 ($30 per unit)

Water Saving Foot Pedal  Sanitary washing  Uses percent less water than standard faucets  Initial System Cost: $2000 ($100 per unit)

Aerobic Closed Tanks Open Aerobic Reactors Septic Settling Tank Sewer Treatment Plant UV Sterilization With permitting, we hope to close the loop Blackwater EcoMachine Aerobic Closed Tanks Open Aerobic Reactors Septic Settling Tank Sewer Treatment Plant UV Sterilization With permitting, we hope to close the loop EFB

Open Aerobic Reactors Ecological Fluidized Beds Aiken BuildingUV Sterilization Graywater EcoMachine

Rainwater EcoMachine Demonstration system located in the Solarium Promotion of “Living Building” and inherent beauty within these ecological systems Potential mix of non- native tropical and native marsh species Ambler Design and John Todd Research and Design, Inc.

Scenario One:

Scenario Two:

Scenario Three:

Scenario Four: **Due to the existing structural design of Aiken, composting toilets are not feasible to install in the central corridor. This scenario can be used to demonstrate the potential of eliminating black water from a system.

Breakdown of Scenarios Scenario 1Scenario 2Scenario 3Scenario 4 Grey water use (gallons) 121, , 000 Black water use (gallons) 500, , 00050, 000Negligible Total water use (gallons) 630, , , , 000 Water reduction (from Scenario 1) 0 %40 %74 % 82 % Capital costs for entire system (excluding urinals) $4900$37, 000 $49, 000 (plus a possible $10, 000 for Living Machine) $53, 000 (plus a possible $5, 000 for Living Machine)

Conclusion  Due to the structural limitations of Scenario 4, we hope to see Scenario 3 become a reality for Aiken.  We recommend closing the water cycle as much as possible, thereby promoting water re-use, and reducing pollutants and energy consumption.  We believe these steps will help Aiken and the University achieve the goal of becoming the environmental university.

Acknowledgements William Maclay Architects John Todd Bob Costanza Zak Adams The Greening of Aiken: Water Subcommittee