Thanks to the reputation of Sam Houston State University’s research programs, the United States Army is now working with the Texas Research Institute for Environmental Studies on a military project to be used in Iraq.
The Army commissioned the university research center to build a “wastewater treatment system for overseas and remote military deployment”, which is expected to be deployed in Iraq by 2010.
According to its website,
“[TRIES] was established in 1991 to meet the growing need for environmental education, to expand the scope of examination of environmental issues, and to make comprehensive environmental databases readily accessible to all interested groups.”
A MarketWatch.com press release referred to the wastewater treatment system as the “DAAB”, which stands for Deployable Aqueous Aerobic Bioreactor, and explained how the system works.
“The system converts wastewater to EPA acceptable standards within 24-48 hours. Housed in a 40-foot-long shipping container, DAAB is completely portable and can treat wastewater for up to 600 people a day, roughly a battalion of soldiers,” according to MarketWatch.com
“The potential implications of this technology are huge,” Sabin Holland, Director of Innovative Programs at SHSU. “We can increase the health and safety of our troops overseas by eliminating the need for unreliable wastewater treatment contractors, clean up Katrina-type disaster sites more rapidly, and deliver safer water supplies to third world countries.”