Perpetuating Water
by Jacob Kamhis
by Jacob Kamhis
See the full layout of this article in the Jan.-March 2015 issue of Pacific Edge magazine.
Who would have thought that after a renewable energy boom there would be a new renewable in the pipeline—water.
Lauren C. Roth Venu did. "Water is not a finite resource, it's just disappearing from where we find it today," says Venu, who combines the imagination of an artist with the practicality of a scientist as president of Roth Ecological Design International.
Since 2006, she and her staff have imagined ways to capture and reuse water, to recharge water supplies and apply new methods to regenerate this critical resource. Roth Ecological provides consulting, project management, master planning and design/build services for sustainable water projects and wastewater management. Seventy percent of the work is in the private sector and the rest involves government contracts.
Venu and her staff work to address issues of pollution, drought and waste. According to a Department of Land and Natural Resources planner, O'ahu has only half the water supply compared with 100 years ago. Venu adds there is also a weather twist predicted: Arid leeward areas will become dryer and wet places are expected to become even wetter.
Venu attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned an environmental science degree specializing in water resources. Her studies included water law, policy, water science and economics. "Being young and wanting to save the world, I became frustrated," she recalls.
Venu joined a research project related to the nuclear dumps at Rocky Flats near Denver. The area had become a uranium dump and scientists were researching how sunflowers could break down radioactivity to make the dangerous material benign. Venu began working with John Todd, inventor of the Living Machine, a nature-based filtration system composed of bacteria, microorganisms, plants, fungi, shrimp and fish. In early 2000, Todd and Venu shipped the Living Machine to O'ahu and put it to use filtering waste from a slaughterhouse on Fort Weaver Road in 'Ewa. When the facility closed, a full-scale ecological treatment system was established at its new location in Campbell Industrial Park. "Pollution is just a resource that is out of place," says Venu.
Venu continued her schooling and received a Master in Oceanography from the University of Hawai'i. Yet again she yearned to be on the front lines to combat pollution and advance sustainability. She performed feasibility studies for early clients Maui Land & Pineapple and Kapalua Resort on Maui, and the Rocky Mountain Institute for a resort project on the Big Island.
Venu didn't limit herself to the islands. She volunteered with Engineers Without Borders and went to Thailand, where officials in the village of Ban Mae Wan proposed building a dam for crop irrigation. She instead presented them with a water management plan, cautioning that a dam would lead to water shortages downstream and could cause a flood during a major storm. The project is ongoing with the goal of establishing a water management framework for nearby villages as well.
Roth Ecological's current Big Island projects utilize the constructed wetlands technology. The new Kaiser Permanente in Kona was unable to connect to the municipal sewer system and has instead implemented an on-site treatment system using wetlands, allowing water to be recycled for irrigation. A similar project is under construction at the UH West Hawaii campus at Palamanui. Following completion in 2016, the school's wetlands will eliminate the need for the county wastewater treatment system.
"Wetlands are kidneys of the planet," Venu explains. "These ecosystems allow waste particles to settle out." Managing water supplies in such decentralized ways prevent water waste. They permit the reuse of water similar to how renewable energy is generated, Venu adds. The current infrastructure sends used water offshore or it simply runs off, polluting sea life and coral reefs.
Perpetuating water also means developing a mindfulness in the next generation. To educate youth, Venu plans to use the Water Institute for Sustainability Education, or WISE, her company's non-profit affiliate. Her goal is for students to retain sustainability concepts as they become adults.
Venu may have found a way to merge art and science to perpetuate water and wants to raise the bar for her own company by obtaining larger development projects and more federal work. "Without water, we don't have much chance in the islands," says Venu. "Or we'll have to build expensive water desalination plants and pay the costs to run them."
Lauren C. Roth Venu did. "Water is not a finite resource, it's just disappearing from where we find it today," says Venu, who combines the imagination of an artist with the practicality of a scientist as president of Roth Ecological Design International.
Since 2006, she and her staff have imagined ways to capture and reuse water, to recharge water supplies and apply new methods to regenerate this critical resource. Roth Ecological provides consulting, project management, master planning and design/build services for sustainable water projects and wastewater management. Seventy percent of the work is in the private sector and the rest involves government contracts.
Venu and her staff work to address issues of pollution, drought and waste. According to a Department of Land and Natural Resources planner, O'ahu has only half the water supply compared with 100 years ago. Venu adds there is also a weather twist predicted: Arid leeward areas will become dryer and wet places are expected to become even wetter.
Venu attended the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned an environmental science degree specializing in water resources. Her studies included water law, policy, water science and economics. "Being young and wanting to save the world, I became frustrated," she recalls.
Venu joined a research project related to the nuclear dumps at Rocky Flats near Denver. The area had become a uranium dump and scientists were researching how sunflowers could break down radioactivity to make the dangerous material benign. Venu began working with John Todd, inventor of the Living Machine, a nature-based filtration system composed of bacteria, microorganisms, plants, fungi, shrimp and fish. In early 2000, Todd and Venu shipped the Living Machine to O'ahu and put it to use filtering waste from a slaughterhouse on Fort Weaver Road in 'Ewa. When the facility closed, a full-scale ecological treatment system was established at its new location in Campbell Industrial Park. "Pollution is just a resource that is out of place," says Venu.
Venu continued her schooling and received a Master in Oceanography from the University of Hawai'i. Yet again she yearned to be on the front lines to combat pollution and advance sustainability. She performed feasibility studies for early clients Maui Land & Pineapple and Kapalua Resort on Maui, and the Rocky Mountain Institute for a resort project on the Big Island.
Venu didn't limit herself to the islands. She volunteered with Engineers Without Borders and went to Thailand, where officials in the village of Ban Mae Wan proposed building a dam for crop irrigation. She instead presented them with a water management plan, cautioning that a dam would lead to water shortages downstream and could cause a flood during a major storm. The project is ongoing with the goal of establishing a water management framework for nearby villages as well.
Roth Ecological's current Big Island projects utilize the constructed wetlands technology. The new Kaiser Permanente in Kona was unable to connect to the municipal sewer system and has instead implemented an on-site treatment system using wetlands, allowing water to be recycled for irrigation. A similar project is under construction at the UH West Hawaii campus at Palamanui. Following completion in 2016, the school's wetlands will eliminate the need for the county wastewater treatment system.
"Wetlands are kidneys of the planet," Venu explains. "These ecosystems allow waste particles to settle out." Managing water supplies in such decentralized ways prevent water waste. They permit the reuse of water similar to how renewable energy is generated, Venu adds. The current infrastructure sends used water offshore or it simply runs off, polluting sea life and coral reefs.
Perpetuating water also means developing a mindfulness in the next generation. To educate youth, Venu plans to use the Water Institute for Sustainability Education, or WISE, her company's non-profit affiliate. Her goal is for students to retain sustainability concepts as they become adults.
Venu may have found a way to merge art and science to perpetuate water and wants to raise the bar for her own company by obtaining larger development projects and more federal work. "Without water, we don't have much chance in the islands," says Venu. "Or we'll have to build expensive water desalination plants and pay the costs to run them."