Sabin Holland, SHSU lead investigator and microbiologist said: “The bacteria, the ‘bugs,’ we are working with are naturally occurring and can be found in a common handful of dirt, which would typically contain hundreds of kinds of bacteria. We have isolated a small subset of them, each having a specific function, to engineer a biofilm that is self-regulating and highly efficient at cleaning wastewater.”
According to Holland, the technology can be applied to both military and civilian applications where little infrastructure exists, such as remote military operations and disaster relief efforts.