Resources

---

Integrated Water Infrastructure at Lakefront Estates

A master-planned community in South Florida had planned its potable water, wastewater, and reuse systems one phase at a time, sizing and permitting each independently. REGEN evaluated the development as a single water-resource system, corrected inherited sizing assumptions, and managed the regulatory path, including nutrient-reduction obligations in a Basin Management Action Plan area, without sacrificing the client’s schedule.

The 0.5 MG storage tank and booster pump station went from concept to operation in under twelve months with first-submittal permit approvals, and a phased 0.9 MGD membrane bioreactor facility can scale to full buildout without redesign.

Read Full Article >

---

Blackwater Reuse at Fishermen’s Terminal

The Port of Seattle’s Maritime Innovation Center is pursuing full Living Building Challenge certification, which requires the building to capture and treat its own water and waste. Working with Orenco Systems, REGEN designed a closed-loop blackwater system for a 400 gpd design flow that fits within a fixed mechanical footprint.

A multi-barrier treatment train, ultrafiltration plus dual UV and electro-chlorination disinfection, supplies toilet flushing and irrigation, with real-time monitoring that automatically diverts off-spec water to sewer and a permitting precedent for similar Washington projects.

Read Full Article >

---

Distributed Water Infrastructure Framework and Possibilities

This Water Environment Federation technical report defines Distributed Water Infrastructure (DWI) — professionally managed water and wastewater systems serving single or multiple properties within a neighborhood or district — and distinguishes it from decentralized, property-owner-managed systems. Drawing on input from more than 60 water professionals, the report argues that most infrastructure in use today was designed around challenges from 50 or more years ago, and that DWI offers a safer, more cost-effective, flexible, and resilient path forward.

The paper maps out the four synergistic roles that shape water infrastructure decisions — controller, implementer, owner, and beneficiary — and details DWI’s benefits, from reduced leakage and faster project delivery to disaster resilience and avoided capital expenditures. It closes with a call to action for water professionals to help shift regulation, financing, and workforce development toward supporting DWI at every scale.

Read Full Article >

---

Net Positive Water: The Hafer Urban Frontier House

The Urban Frontier House near downtown Billings, Montana, is an off-grid, net positive water home that provides an excellent illustration of how energy and water efficiency can be optimized when designing sustainable homes in urban settings. Billings averages 13.7 inches (348 mm) of rain annually and has temperatures in the teens during winter months — designing for comfort and sustainability in this high-desert climate presented many challenges.

Read Full Article >

---

Nitrogen-reduction treatment systems for long-term operations

A proper analysis of nitrogen-reduction systems is critical to finding the most effective treatment process for specific locations. Tristian Bounds of Orenco Systems illustrates how a nitrogen-reduction treatment system was evaluated for a recreational vehicle (RV) resort project in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States (US).

The need for nitrogen-reducing wastewater treatment systems has become more common in the past few decades due to various environmental concerns, including eutrophication, oxygen depletion, and toxicity to aquatic organisms in lakes and streams. The addition of nitrogen removal to any wastewater treatment plant – new or existing – typically increases the costs of the project significantly. When evaluating suitable technologies, it is critical to properly identify processes that can not only prove the best upfront capital value but also provide the most sustainable long-term functionality.

Read Full Article >

---

Modern Living at 851 S. Cole Rd.

A four-story apartment building in Boise pairs a light, inviting brick façade with a shared second-floor garden, giving residents open-air space above the street to gather, grow, and unwind between days on the trails and the river.

Balconies on select units, generous glazing, and easy bike access keep the outdoors part of everyday life, while accessible on-site parking and open, well-finished residences support a modern urban lifestyle.

Read Full Article >

---

Pilot Travel Center Wastewater Treatment and Reuse

With no permitted sewer within three miles and an existing permit capped below 5,000 gallons per day, this busy travel center needed an onsite path forward. REGEN prepared the design and permit application for an integrated collection, treatment, disinfection, and irrigation-reuse system sized for 6,000 gpd average and 12,000 gpd peak flow.

A containerized Fluence Aspiral MABR provides compact, low-energy biological treatment behind grease control, primary settling, and flow equalization, turning treated water into a landscape-irrigation resource instead of a waste stream.

Read Full Article >

---

Responsible water recycling

Real-world decentralized water reuse strategies provide additional water supplies to increasing communities worldwide. Tristian Bounds and Jeff Pringle of Orenco Systems, Inc. and Pete Munoz of Biohabitats report on three projects in Australia and the United States that provide inspiring examples of what can be achieved.

Increasing demands on the planet’s limited fresh water supply are a source of immediate concern. In many places, demand exceeds supply. By implementing effective treatment technologies and reuse strategies, the effects of drought and population growth on water supplies can be alleviated. Decentralized water reuse solutions can play a pivotal role in water conservation and management. Properly treating wastewater – both blackwater and greywater – at or near the point of generation relieves pressure on potable water resources and provides many other environmental and economic benefits. Decentralized systems also minimize environmental footprints, increase opportunities for public education and awareness, and provide for a more sustainable future.

Read Full Article >

---

Wastewater Treatment goes Solar

Wastewater treatment systems powered by wind and solar go off the grid for power and sewer. Tristian Bounds, PE, of Orenco Systems Inc. explains how the system achieve the triple bottom line of sustainability.

Read Full Article >

---

REGEN HQ

REGEN’s own 4,567 square foot office is an adaptive reuse of a vanilla retail space in the Saratoga Building. An Eco-Brutalist ethos strips away the superfluous to reveal the raw structure, then sets it against extensive plant life and low-cost, high-performance materials.

A deconstructed 9′x9′ column and beam grid sets circulation and zoning without restrictive partitions, and a spiral stair ties the main floor to a mezzanine that stays open below for visual connection and shared daylight, all within a $350,000 construction budget.

Read Full Article >

---

Terra Mesa

A family with deep ties to the land asked REGEN to design a home that builds with the earth, not against it. Terra Mesa is a single-story, 2,600 square foot rammed earth residence on a 5.36 acre mesa-edge site overlooking the Rio Grande Valley.

Rammed earth walls give the house thermal mass suited to the semi-arid climate, while harvested rainwater and onsite treatment, recycling, and reuse treat water as the valuable resource it is.

Read Full Article >

---

Aspen Pointe Plaza

Aspen Pointe Plaza turns two underused parcels on Eagle’s State Street scenic corridor into a node of commerce at the edge of downtown. A lot line adjustment joined them into a 0.72 acre site carrying 9,161 square feet of commercial space in two buildings.

Two smaller Prairie School-style buildings break down the mass and give the frontage neighborhood-scale texture, with shared parking, one consolidated access drive, and landscape buffering for the residential neighbors.

Read Full Article >