BiomWeb

As the world’s population explodes, Wastewater continues to increase. Traditional sewage infrastructure, however, isn’t up to the challenge of providing low-cost, rapidly deployable solutions. A full 1% of the global GDP is invested in sewage infrastructure but cities still can’t keep up with demand. 

Biomweb is a decentralized nature-based wastewater treatment system that is here to transform wastewater treatment. The solution is simple and elegant: it treats wastewater onsite with a series of water tanks that imitate aquatic habitats found in nature. It also does not require added chemicals, desludging, or vast infrastructure investment. BiomWeb looks like a bouquet and reuses the treated wastewater for irrigation

Complemented by the power of IoT, owners can monitor and control the system remotely with a smartphone.   A suite of tools will empower our partner SMEs, NGOs, and governments to rapidly scale, monitor, and finance the sanitation network of tomorrow. 

NGOs, Governments, and Real Estate Developers continue to invest billions of dollars a year on outdated sanitation infrastructure approaches that rely on centralized wastewater treatment plants. 

Centralized treatment stations are expensive to build and operate. Astonishingly, 80% of the construction cost is for the sewer network,  and most countries cannot afford to build it. 

Consequently, in countries like Lebanon, international donors funded sewage treatment plants that never went into operation because the local government cannot afford to build the sewer.  

To add insult to injury, donors then also pay a fortune to vacuum wastewater from Informal Settlements to sewage treatment plants that are already at overcapacity. 

Even in the UAE, despite spending billions of dollars on sewer pipe and state-of-the-art infrastructure, many suburbs continue to depend on sewage trucks, which are an expensive and diesel-hungry solution. 

In the UAE 2.5kg of CO2 are generated per liter of seawater desalinated. Reusing wastewater from 325 Villas for irrigation in the UAE is equivalent to 500,000 kg of Co2 and removing 100,000 cars from the road. 

Our design philosophy is there is no waste in nature. We replace mechanical systems, major infrastructure, and sewage trucks, with a nature-based solution that is easy to operate and monitor remotely.

BiomWeb consists of two components, (1) the BiomPods nature-based wastewater treatment system and (2) BiomPortal a suite of interconnected IoT devices for remote monitoring & control. Collectively they form a BiomWeb, the resilient centerpiece of a decentralized sanitation infrastructure. 

Our individual BiomPods, which can be networked together to service larger clients or communities, consist of an elegant series of water tanks that imitate aquatic habitats to process sewage and produce clean water for irrigation. 

Our remote monitoring system exploits emerging and accessible technologies to allow for central oversight, and overcome a key barrier to the adoption of a decentralized infrastructure strategy. The addition of IoT and a secure app-based management system gives BiomWeb an easy, straightforward way to manage and monitor our assets and make them practically autonomous - from a single system to a countrywide network.

The Bekaa Valley in Lebanon is an urbanizing dryland region affected by the humanitarian emergencies. It remains the country’s most important agricultural region, but it is also a resource for sustainable development (incl. important tourism opportunities).[1] According to the UN, over half a million refugees live in the region, mostly from Syria. They are blamed for making existing environmental problems worse and are seen as an obstacle to the economic revitalization of the region. Sanitation systems and water supply infrastructure are inadequate, but the region has long suffered from water shortages, serious water pollution, and depletion of groundwater tables.

Given the pervasive water shortage, informal entrepreneurs supply water through trucks, private wells, bottles, and portable containers. This increases costs and water accessibility, putting greater pressure on the poorest social groups. Access to water is not just expensive, it generates social exclusion and potential for renewed conflict.

Responses to this situation have been inadequate. For example, to make the shortfall in water supply the publicly-managed Bekaa Regional Water Establishment (BRWE) was established to service an area of 4000 km2 with an estimated population of 1 mln. Only 240 out of 330 towns and villages of the Bekaa are currently connected to the various BWE public water-supply networks, representing about two-thirds of the population, the remainder being served by ad-hoc systems or not at all. No more than 30% of the Bekaa households are currently connected to a wastewater collection and treatment system, in spite of the large efforts of the CDR and USAID in the last 20 years related to wastewater service.[2]

The refugee crisis has led to rapid expansion in the presence and activity of international agencies and donor-funded initiatives. Unfortunately, crisis responses have included poorly planned well digging, accelerated extraction rates, whereas temporary settlements with makeshift sanitation arrangements have added to existing pressures on the environment.

The most vulnerable people are wrongly blamed for creating environmental degradation, when it is the lack of a systematic, strategic, ecosystem-based approach based on collaboration among key stakeholders, including the local government that is a big part of the problem.

Mruna has established a manufacturing facility a few kilometers from the informal settlements where we have installed our pilots. We are in the process of iterating solutions, from field observation to pilot within a few kilometers. Our first hire is a Syrian refugee who was a blacksmith in his home country and is now welding plastic sheets that will serve his home in the refugee camp. 

[1]  See; http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/17383IIED.pdf

[2]See:  https://www.pseau.org/outils/ouvrages/Bekaa_Water_Establishment_Master_Plan_2015.pdf

Lebanon hosts 1.5 million Syrians who have fled the conflict in Syria and the majority of whom live in informal settlements. Our sites are a typical representation of the thousands of informal settlements which are constructed within proximity to the Litany River. 

BiomWeb offers a platform to implement a paradigm shift that addresses the design, construction, and operational requirements needed to implement a decentralized and resilient sanitation infrastructure strategy. 

Our solution promotes a formidable alliance among nature, IoT, and SMEs' that will disrupt centralized sanitation utilities in the same way solar and smart-grids have done to energy utilities.

Mruna has two innovative nature-based wastewater treatment systems in operation at two informal settlements, sheltering about 130 individuals each, and managed by Solidarites International (SI). 

In addition, we have set up a pilot system at the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute which services as our sandbox. For example, we are trialing gravity dosing with a valve and hydroponics integration of high-value crops to incentivize beneficiaries, whether farmers or refugees, to operate and maintain the systems after the funds dry out. 

Our objective is to achieve both technology innovation and a business model innovation in wastewater treatment. Our long-term vision is to decentralize wastewater treatment just as photovoltaic panels and smart grids have decentralized power generation.

To be successful we must achieve: (1) a technology innovation and, (2) a business model Innovation. The latter requires a series of Internet-enabled sensors, and a web application to manage them. Together they will allow for more effective reuse and distribution of treated water among customers.

The business model innovation is a pay-per-use system to overcome the sticker shock of a typical onsite treatment system. It requires Internet-enabled water-metering that allows remote management of these physically decentralized WWTPs. We can then transition to a utility model and centrally manage these systems and bill real-estate developers, households, or municipalities against usage - rather than a capital expense. Think Solar City for wastewater treatment.

Combining low maintenance nature-based wastewater treatment technology with IoT remote monitoring allows for centralized management of a decentralized system. The basis for scaling our business and establishing partnerships with public, private, and NGO partners who will exploit our technology and business model to offer services to prospective users that overcomes sticker shock. 

Internationally, a key to scalability will be attracting blended financing arrangements adapted to local needs and circumstances, emphasizing financing that also generates social and environmental benefits—investing in local capacities, skills, and institutional arrangements based on sharing costs and risks among users, investors, and establishments to facilitate the process.

CURRENT 300 people 

Mruna has two innovative nature based wastewater treatment systems in operation at two informal settlements, sheltering about 130 individuals each, and managed by Solidarites International (SI) .

IN ONE YEAR - 600 people in UAE and Lebanon 

In 5 years - 15,000 people 

Combining low maintenance nature-based wastewater treatment technology with IoT remote monitoring allows for centralized management of a decentralized system. The basis for scaling our business and establishing partnerships with public, private, and NGO partners who will exploit our technology and business model to offer services to prospective users that overcomes sticker shock. 

Internationally, a key to scalability will be attracting blended financing arrangements adapted to local needs and circumstances, emphasizing financing that also generates social and environmental benefits—investing in local capacities, skills, and institutional arrangements based on sharing costs and risks among users, investors, and establishments to facilitate the process.

The adaption of remote monitoring equipment will  allow us more accurately measure the amount water treated (measure CO2 emissions saved, water reused, environmental impacts avoided, or water aquifer recharged)

In addition, we hope to develop new materials which are more efficient and carbon neutral. (As I complete this application we are testing recycled plastic sheets developed by fellow alumni from the Berytech Accelerator program. See below.) 

3 Full Time co-founder 

1 Part-time advisor 

1 Full Time Staff for manufacturing 

1 Full Time Staff for consulting 

1 part-time for design drawings 

Mrüna is a transliteration of the Arabic word for resilience, and we strive to bring a strategic appreciation of the multidisciplinary nature of urban development to BiomWeb. Our team members have held a variety of roles, in both the private and public sector, and offer a holistic understanding of the wide spectrum of stakeholders and professionals needed to disrupt and increase resilience in the Water Sector

Benjamin Baseley-Walker - Strategy and Communications - he has a proven track record in organizational management having worked with, advised or led teams working with high-level government officials and key private sector players. He has participated in and facilitated numerous international processes and negotiations on technology. 

Dr. Farheen Khanum - Director Environment - has multinational experience in Environment, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and  Ecological Studies. She leads on remote sensing technology and the development of a heuristic decision-making tool. 

Gerard Dagher - Technical Lead - is a computer engineer who has over a decade of experience installing telecommunications infrastructure in Africa. Gerard is responsible for developing the BiomWeb Remote Monitoring system.  

Romeo El Koury - Director Infrastructure - has spent years laying designing and constructing critical urban infrastructure in Africa and the Middle East.  Romeo brings practical civil engineer knowledge that takes our solution from the whiteboard and into the ground. 

Ziad Hussami - Managing Director - is the founder of Mruna who draws on his background in Urban Planning and Biology to bring together an integrated ecosystem approach to sustainable water infrastructure.  

We are not friends. We are all accidental colleagues who met on the job and decided to roll up our sleeves and join the frey. Our commitment is to get the job done, and it so happens the pursuit of qualified talent favors the inclusive. Five core members hail from 4 religions, 4 nationalities, and various sexual orientations. 

Mruna is looking to disrupt the industry and advocate for nature-based decentralization. Our strategy must be accepted by established engineering design consultants, which typically advocate for centralized strategy, and who are responsible for developing the national sanitation masterplan. 

We need the financial, technical, and commercial support to achieve teh following. 

In Lebanon we may use the funding for one of the following options: (1) Install a system to service a municipality to establish a proof of concept (2) cover the cost of VTOL drones and Life Cycle Costing Studies for a Sustainable Network Infrastructure Planning study to generate a solid justification to pursue an alternative approach to the existing sanitation master plan for mountainous villages. (3) fabricate our new prototype predigestion and install them at our existing UNICEF installation. We have two sites at UNCIEF the alternative model will replace concrete reinforced manholes and sewage pipes with a shallow network which will significantly reduce network infrastructure costs. 

In the UAE an investment would cover the capital infrastructure cost of supplying a system to service a commercial project. The project would serve to validate our Wastewater Treatment as a service model in our key market. Mruna would continue to operate the system as a utility and charge the client a monthly fee against the service. Data from the project will help us to validate our business model and refine our financial models as we prepare for investments. 

Technical validation of our wastewater treatment system in a way that satisfies conventional wastewater treatment specifications. Establishing a history of successful testing and data which is sufficient to satisfy new stakeholders in new markets. 

Commercial Validation - a comprehensive life cycle costing study which will quantify both the monetary and environmental benefits of our approach to regulatory stakeholders and potential large-scale customers (municipalities and master developers) who must be won over to accelerate our growth. 

Financial Model and Operational Excellence - the team needs to develop a process and a model which will professionalize the organization to a level that will prepare the Mruna to be an investor-ready enterprise BEFORE the growth opportunity arrives and the investments are needed.  

Our conversations with stakeholders are essentially a segway to Sidewalk Labs generative design tool, "which can help generate millions of planning scenarios — and identify options that best reflect local priorities".   

Perhaps even more important than the development of BiomWeb is to effectively make the commercial and technical justification for redesigning city infrastructure and offer our stakeholders a holistic understanding of the tradeoffs between a centralized and decentralized approach. 

For example: 

• In Lebanon, we've personally lobbied the Ministry of Energy to vocally request the development community (UNICEF/USAID/UNDP) consider alternative approaches to sanitation infrastructure in peri-urban areas.  
• In the UAE We pitched Aldar, the largest master developer in the UAE, to redesign infrastructure in a way that will maximize the reuse of water and reduce the capital cost of infrastructure.

So far we have presented basic GIS and order of magnitude estimations to stakeholders.  We'd highly appreciate the opportunity to have a conversation with Sidewalk labs and evaluate opportunities for cooperation on this front.

We are developing wastewater treatment solutions specifically for the informal settlements setting. Our manufacturing plant is located a few kilometers away from our pilot systems and we employ refugees and teach them new skills to manufacture our systems. 

For example, Ahmad in the picture below made all the systems in the photo. He was an unemployed metal welder. 

Other manufacturers make domestic wastewater systems for domestic households and somehow adapt them to various degrees of success to informal settlements. We design our system from the ground up with the informal settlements in mind. 

We are also looking into incentivizing the beneficiaries to properly operate and maintain the system by integrating hydroponic systems by valorizing the water it treats.

The opportunity is to reuse safely the treated effluent of wastewater, irrigate crops under a scarcity of water, increase the efficiency of the wastewater station, and incentivize stakeholder's participation by valorizing its successful operation. 

Perhaps also worth noting we are supported by the Swiss Water Acceleration program CEWAS. 

1. Retention time of wastewater is a key parameter for successful treatment. Most wastewater volumes are generated during the daytime. We can maximize the efficiency by algorithmically rationing the dosing of wastewater from our holding tank to our system over an entire 24-hour period. We intend to use Machine Learning to improve this function. 

2. Sustainable Network Infrastructure Planning

Our conversations with stakeholders are essentially a segway to Sidewalk Labs generative design tool, "which can help generate millions of planning scenarios — and identify options that best reflect local priorities".   

Perhaps even more important than the development of BiomWeb is to effectively make the commercial and technical justification for redesigning city infrastructure and offer our stakeholders a holistic understanding of the tradeoffs between a centralized and decentralized approach. 

For example: 

• In Lebanon, we've personally lobbied the Ministry of Energy to vocally request the development community (UNICEF/USAID/UNDP) consider alternative approaches to sanitation infrastructure in peri-urban areas.  
• In the UAE We pitched Aldar, the largest master developer in the UAE, to redesign infrastructure in a way that will maximize the reuse of water and reduce the capital cost of infrastructure.

So far we have presented basic GIS and order of magnitude estimations to stakeholders.  We'd highly appreciate the opportunity to have a conversation with Sidewalk labs and evaluate opportunities for cooperation in Artificial Intelligence for infrastructure planning. 

Below is a proposal we made to the Ministry of Energy and Water