E PA/601/F24/002

v>EPA

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency

epa.gov/research

•	Homeland Security

•	Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Facility and Staff

Facility: Located at Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer
District's Mill Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant
(VVWTP), T&E has a 24,000 square foot high bay area
for bench-, pilot- and full-scale research; 14,000
square feet of supporting office, chemical storage and
analytical lab spaces; a greenhouse; and a machine
shop. T&E is one of four EPA research facilities in
Cincinnati.

Staff: Eight federal employees, 14 contractors,
and several students and post-docs perform
research at T&E.

Introduction

EPA's Test and Evaluation Facility (T&E) in Cincinnati,
Ohio, is a versatile high bay facility for the research
and development of new technologies related to water
and waste monitoring, treatment, and control systems.
T&E allows scientists to study drinking water
contaminants, biosensors, and small systems, and
verify water security monitoring and treatment
technologies. Research at T&E provides the scientific
foundation to support EPA's programs in drinking
water, wastewater, and water systems security and
resilience. This research has contributed to the
development and use of technologies and strategies
for monitoring and controlling water contaminants
resulting from natural and man-made incidents.
Research is performed under three of EPA's six Na-
tional Research Programs:

• Safe and Sustainable Water Resources

Unique Facility Features

•	The facility's proximity to the WWTP enables
researchers to conduct real-time experiments on
various wastewater streams.

•	The facility is part of the Water Environment &
Reuse Foundation's FAST Water Network
(Facilities Accelerating Science & Technology),
which connects researchers and new technology
providers with test facilities to accelerate the
adoption of innovative technologies.

•	The facility is available for private and public sector
collaborators, including:

•	other government agencies via interagency
agreements and

•	academic institutions and private clients via
a Cooperative Research and Development
Agreement under the Federal Technology
Transfer Act Amendment.

The T&E Facility's High Bay Experimental Area
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Facility Contact: Josh Weber, w

eber.iosh@epa.ao

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Capabilities

The T&E Facility has large, versatile spaces allowing

for a variety of experimental configurations. Facility

features & capabilities include:

•	heated high bay experimental area with 35-foot
ceiling;

•	two 5-ton bridge cranes for moving large equip-
ment;

•	primary & secondary wastewater, chlorinated,
dechlorinated, chloroaminated, recycled, and
deionized water supplies to 16 experimental work
areas;

•	full-scale hydrant and telemetry system;

holding tanks with leak monitoring and alarm
capability, including an automatic supply and
drainage shutdown system;

fully climate-controlled biosafety level 2, process,
organic, instrument, and chemistry laboratories;

machine shop (700 ft2) for fabricating specialty
items;

greenhouse (275 ft2) for agricultural studies;

two 12 x 12 ft controlled environmental chambers;
and

full-scale home (premise) plumbing setup with
water heaters, showers, and toilets that simulate
household water use.

Science Contributions

T&E's unique capability for bench- and large pilot-scale research is a critical link to EPA's ability to design and
fabricate innovative solutions—tested in a safe environment without public health risk—and apply them to real-
world challenges. Research at T&E provides water and wastewater systems operators with tested tools and
technologies that can be scaled up at treatment plants and in water distribution systems.

Active research topics include:

•	Drinking water, stormwater and wastewater simulations
to understand decontamination and persistence of
contaminants in treatment and distribution systems.

•	Real-time remote and smart water quantity/quality
sensors for treatment and distribution systems.

•	Innovative membrane materials and membrane-based
processes for desalination and organic solvent reclama-
tion & reuse.

•	Emergency mobile treatment systems to provide potable
water to residents and responders following disasters.

•	Treatment of contaminated water for disposal resulting
from wide-area decontamination activities following a
natural disaster or intentional event.

•	Source water early warning monitoring and detection
technology.

•	Contaminant persistence and performance of disinfec-
tion and flushing methods in aircraft water systems.

•	Advanced oxidation technologies for water and
wastewater treatment and water reuse applications,
including 1,4 dioxane system, electrochemical oxidation
and ceramic micro-filter system, ozone, ultraviolet and
peroxide combination systems

•	Full scale home plumbing system to assess remediation
options after contamination events or understand
chemical and microbial changes in home plumbing

•	Pilot scale wastewater system to study aerosolization of
contaminants from wastewater process and disposal of
dewatered sludge.

Notable scientific products & achievements include:

•	Improved the ability of water utilities to detect
contamination and better protect public health by:

•	testing commercial, off-the-shelf water quality
sensors used to monitor water utility operations;

•	developing technologies for decontamination of
drinking water and wastewater systems, and

•	designing, developing, and evaluating:

•	small community drinking water treatment and

sensor systems,

•	technologies for removal of Cryptosporidium,
B. globigli. and algal toxins in water, and

•	aquatic organisms as early warning indicators
of harmful algal blooms in source waters.

•	Completed performance evaluations of point-of-entry
and point-of-use devices for removal of microbiological
contaminants from tap water.

•	Developed energy efficient processes to recover
solvents and alcohol biofuels from dilute solutions.

•	Verified EPANET, a water distribution system modeling
software, via T&E's pilot-scale distribution system.

•	Conducted wastewater and combined sewer overflows
pilot scale treatment evaluations using alternative
decontamination approaches using peracetic acid,
chlorination, ultraviolet, and their combinations.

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