Rising sea levels and king tide flooding in coastal areas across America are saturating onsite wastewater disposal systems (OSDS), resulting in the degradation of coastal ecosystems and 200,000+ illnesses annually. Many States are mandating system upgrades, with 88,000 upgrades required by 2050 in Hawaii alone. Unfortunately, existing upgrade options are unaffordable for 97% of Hawaiian homeowners and offer poor performance for coastal properties with high groundwater levels. In response to this pressing issue that will cost Hawaiian homeowners an estimated $1.75B between now and 2050, WaiHome LLC is developing an aboveground and affordable wastewater disposal system for coastal households adapting to sea level rise. Under this Phase I SBIR project, WaiHome is proposing to investigate the regulatory and technical feasibility of its proprietary Rail above ground disposal system. WaiHome will summarize regulatory approaches to similar systems and interview regulators from coastal states across America. WaiHome will also evaluate locally available system components, and innovative manufacturing and installation methods to decrease labor and material costs. Finally, WaiHome will build and install a proof-of-concept system at the companys Hawaiian pilot site to evaluate the impact of geometric design parameters on disposal performance.
