Stevens Institute of Technology
IN-48: Innovation B

Engineered mulch is an effective retrofit for rain garden which can help to remove metals and phosphate from stormwater before they get into stormwater system and contaminate our water bodies. This engineered mulch is generated by coating regular wood mulch with drinking water treatment residuals (WTRs), using organic materials. Stormwater pollution is one of the major environmental problems in many areas across states and countries which links to human health risk. Many approaches have been developed to address this problem. However, it usually requires land to implement and comes with a high price tag which make those options not feasible to many communities. By coupling a simple material that can be found in most gardens like mulch with a freely available, yet highly effective sorbent like WTRs, the problems can be alleviated in environmentally friendly and economical manners, which ultimately benefit to all the main three pillars of sustainability: economy, society, and environment. The mulch was developed and tested in laboratory conditions by Stevens students and faculty. It is used in the ABS rain garden on Stevens’ campus. There are also plans to put it into the test in the Secaucus rain garden through a partnership with the Township of Secaucus, NJ.