The "Design For Autonomous Net-Zero Water Buildings" Project Funded By NSF

The students at the University of Miami will know firsthand the importance of rethinking the way we handle wastewater and water with a Net-Zero water treatment system on site.   The project showed the viability and feasibility to take buildings off the water grid to provide water recycling and how it can be achieved without raising the cost of high quality water.

The research team behind this Autonomous Net-Zero Water Project designed and built a 4-bedroom dorm located a “special interest” floor of Eaton Residential College on the University of Miami Campus.  Dr. James Englehardt, principal investigator for the project, described one of the project's main goals: to be able to do this for a single stand-alone building (decentralized) with a low-energy and low-emission water-reuse treatment system. The engineering techniques used in this eco-friendly project allows many functions of water-monitoring, water quality control, and operation/maintenance of wastewater and water treatment systems.