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Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchWAIHOME LLC
Address
59-477 HOALIKE RDHALEIWA, HI, 96712-9524
USA
UEI: TP1GMYFQD733
Number of Employees: 3
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: Yes
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2021
2
Phase I Awards
2
Phase II Awards
100%
Conversion Rate
$431,000
Phase I Dollars
$1,646,717
Phase II Dollars
$2,077,717
Total Awarded
Awards
Affordable Wastewater Disposal for Coastal Households Adapting to Sea Level Rise
Amount: $650,000 Topic: 9.2
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 II SBIR project, WaiHome will test the comparative performance of its RAIL proof-of concept prototype developed in Phase I relative to conventional absorption bed disposal in the six dominant soil texture groups in Hawaii. WaiHome will also investigate opportunities to refine its prototype design in preparation for commercial manufacturing and installation. Phase II research will culminate in a Design Validation Testing program that will see the installation and monitoring of demonstration units on three residential properties and one city wastewater treatment plant. This program is consistent with standard permitting pathways for new disposal products. This Phase II project will deliver a minimum viable product with design specifications, bill of materials, commercial manufacturing plan, and maintenance guidelines. Installation guidelines and recommended loading rates will be developed for six soil texture groups dominant in Hawaii. Performance relative to conventional gravel-based and leaching chamber absorption bed designs will be established to further inform the development of system loading standards. It is anticipated that by eliminating the groundwater infiltration and disturbances to the soil-water interface inherent to excavations, the RAIL will demonstrate reduced saturation of the soil-water interface and thereby reduced propensity for clogging. The results of this project will be presented to the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH) as WaiHome begins the process of entering design standards for the RAIL into the Hawaii Administrative Rules. The RAIL will cut the cost of disposal system installation in Hawaii by more than half and make new OSDS accessible for the 97% of Hawaiian cesspool owners who currently can’t afford to comply with the statewide upgrade mandate.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2024
DOC
NOAA
Affordable Wastewater Disposal for Coastal Households Adapting to Sea Level Rise
Amount: $175,000 Topic: 9.2
"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 company’s Hawaiian pilot site to evaluate the impact of geometric design parameters on disposal performance."
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2023
DOC
NOAA
SBIR Phase II:Affordable Onsite Wastewater Treatment Solution
Amount: $996,717 Topic: ET
The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project addresses the poor performance and unaffordability of existing, onsite, wastewater treatment technologies. In Hawaii, the state government has mandated the upgrade of 88,000 cesspools across the state by 2050, but studies have shown that 97% of homeowners will not be able to afford the upgrade. Further, an estimated 55% of Hawaiian homeowners will need to install a system other than a conventional septic system due to site sizing, grading, and sensitive receiving environment constraints. The proximity of Hawaiian homes to the ocean makes them particularly susceptible to rising sea levels that disrupt soil-based treatment technologies like septic systems. This is a problem in many coastal communities in America, but perhaps most notably in Miami-Dade County, FL where an estimated 64% of county septic tanks will begin to fail annually by 2040. Existing upgrades to septic systems exist but they take the form of septic system add-ons or package plants that invariably drive up the cost of treatment systems. _x000D_ _x000D_ This SBIR Phase II project is developing a wastewater treatment technology similar in shape and size to a solar hot water heater. The system is designed to operate passively, similar to a septic tank, but utilizing photosynthesis within a symbiotic algal-bacterial biofilm to provide high quality aerobic treatment on par with expensive package plants. The aboveground typology of the treatment unit protects the treatment process from high groundwater levels even during extreme flooding events, preventing the spread of disease and pollution. Further, situating the unit aboveground greatly simplifies the installation process to avoid expensive excavation costs and unearthing of homeowner backyards. This team has successfully piloted a proof-of-concept with Phase I funding. Moving into Phase II, the team will perform design iteration on the key geometric and operational parameters of the treatment unit and subject prototypes to sequential pilot tests in the field. The objective is to identify optimal manufacturing and design criteria for a resilient commercial treatment product that meets industry standards for use in sensitive receiving environments._x000D_ _x000D_ This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2023
NSF
SBIR Phase I: Affordable Onsite Wastewater Treatment Solution
Amount: $256,000 Topic: ET
The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to provide homeowners with an affordable on-site wastewater treatment solution. Hawaii’s coral reefs are under threat from products of hundreds of thousands of onsite treatment systems across the state seeping into the groundwater and eventually reaching the coastal ecosystem. The proposed onsite wastewater treatment technology could will address this with wide-ranging environmental benefits. The State of Hawaii has legislated the replacement of residential cesspools by 2050 in order to reduce the pollution in streams and the ocean. Unfortunately, upgrade costs are so high that 90% of Hawaiian cesspool owners can’t afford the upgrade. The proposed technology can reduce the cost of upgrades by 5-10x. While the initial application will be in Hawaii, the technology will have national applicability. The proposed system uses an algal bacterial biofilm to passively aerate wastewater recirculated from a septic tank to conduct nitrifying, denitrifying, and heterotrophic operations. Previous investigations into abPBR use for onsite treatment have shown the capacity for high nutrient and BOD removal, but only with active maintenance and pumped recirculation. This project proposes a novel system with this performance but without high maintenance or energy demands. A novel convection-based passive recirculation process will be the primary focus of this study, with a focus on determining how experimentally determined passive recirculation rates and internal temperatures align with computational models, as well as standards for on-site residential wastewater treatment systems. The project will also explore susceptibility to and impact of disrupted recirculation due to gases coming out of solution. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
NSF