Wayne State University and Great Lakes Water Authority launch major collaboration to protect Lake Erie and Rouge River

DETROIT - A research team led by Wayne State University was awarded a $473,566, three-year grant from the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) for a major collaborative initiative focused on enhanced phosphorus removal at the nation's largest single-site wastewater treatment facility.

The GLWA Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) serves 77 communities - including Detroit - and manages flows from a nearly 1,000-square-mile sewer shed. The project aims to protect the Rouge River and Lake Erie by improving phosphorus removal efficiency and ensuring compliance with increasingly stringent environmental regulations designed to reduce harmful algal blooms.

"This project is critical for protecting the Great Lakes, which provide drinking water, food and recreation for many local communities," said Dr. Shawn McElmurry, chair of Wayne State's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the James and Patricia Anderson College of Engineering. "Phosphorus enters our water systems through various ways like agricultural and urban runoff, sewage and waste, and when the amount entering the environment is too large, it can cause significant problems like algal blooms. It is critical that we continue to improve our ability to remove this nutrient to address these challenges."

The research team will develop a comprehensive understanding of how phosphorus moves through the WRRF using advanced chemical analyses to identify and quantify phosphorus species. They will build bench-scale treatment systems that allow controlled, side-by-side testing of biological and chemical processes to enhance phosphorus removal. Moreover, they will create new predictive models to help water treatment facility operators optimize phosphorus removal in real-time, which will advance data-driven water management.

In addition to improving local water systems, the project will provide critical training for Wayne State students to become experts in wastewater treatment and environmental protection.

"This collaboration with Wayne State University represents the kind of innovation-focused partnerships that strengthen our ability to protect the region's water resources," said Dr. John Norton, director of energy, research and innovation at GLWA. "Through this research, we will not only enhance our treatment capabilities at the WRRF but also help train the next generation of water professionals."

"This collaboration is an excellent example of Wayne State's Grand Challenges initiative, which aims to address increasingly complex problems and how we can deliver real-world solutions that impact our local communities and beyond," said Dr. Ezemenari M. Obasi, vice president for research & innovation at Wayne State. "This project will aid in driving lifelong health and fostering sustainable environments - two of the major themes of our initiative - by creating discoveries that will improve lives and our critical environmental resources."

The project team includes McElmurry; Dr. Timothy Dittrich (co-PI), associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, Wayne State; Brooke Ballard, MSESE student, GLWA; Norton; and Dr. Andrew Marcus, senior research engineer, GLWA.

# # #

Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit research.wayne.edu .