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New England Water Treatment Technology Assistance Center

drinking water

Situated within the Environmental Research Group (ERG) at the University of New Hampshire and associated with the Civil Engineering Department, the NE-WTTAC specializes in multidisciplinary research and development, piloting, verification, and diffusion of innovative, water treatment technologies. Frequently, partnerships are formed between the private sector, a host community, and relevant regulatory agencies at the local, state, regional and national level.

The faculty and staff of the NE-WTTAC have expertise in the development of new technologies, field-based pilot testing in host communities, third-party verification of technology performance and reliability, and the diffusion of appropriate technologies to end-users through technology transfer processes. Technologies that have been developed or evaluated include:

  • slow sand filtration
  • GAC/biological filtration
  • membrane filtration
  • roughing filtration
  • precoat pressure filtration
  • air-stripping
  • GAC adsorption
  • advanced oxidation
  • UV disinfection
  • conventional treatment.

Since its inception, faculty have been involved in over 30 research projects funded by the private sector, water utilities, state government, USEPA, and the American Water Works Association Research Foundation. Typical piloting and verification studies involve working closely with a host community. As part of our education and scholarship mission, studies frequently are used to support graduate student research under the careful supervision of faculty. The research that is conducted is widely disseminated and published. The NE-WTTAC is well equipped to conduct these studies, with facilities to conduct bench and pilot scales studies both at UNH and at host community locations.

The NE-WTTAC has been certified by the U.S. EPA/ National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) as an Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) facility. In this capacity, the NE-WTTAC serves as an independent third party in the process of verifying the viability of new drinking water treatment technologies.