Ohio Area Partners with University of Toledo Students
Paul Fletcher
Kleinfelder’s Toledo Office Partners with University of Toledo Students on Wastewater Cost Analysis
Kleinfelder’s Toledo, Ohio office is currently working on a project to develop an outline design report and cost analysis for a client in northwest Ohio. The original concept proposed routing wastewater from several existing municipal connections to a new centralized treatment facility utilizing sequencing batch reactor (SBR) technology. Initially, there was no consideration of a decentralized approach: treating flows individually near their sources.
Paul Fletcher, Senior Water Resources Engineer for the Toledo office, saw an opportunity to turn this into a learning experience. Having previously mentored a senior project on microplastics removal at the University of Toledo (UT), Paul proposed that students in UT’s Fall 2025 Sustainability Problem Solving class compare the costs of decentralized treatment systems with Kleinfelder’s centralized system estimate.
The students selected this project from a pool of five options. With guidance from Paul, they gathered equipment pricing, contacting manufacturers for SBR costs, and supplemented missing data by prorating costs from similar projects found online. Installation labor and operating costs were also estimated using industry benchmarks. The team began with four students, but two withdrew during the semester; Professor Youngwoo Seo stepped in to help complete the report.
Their analysis considered technical, financial, environmental, and social factors. Ultimately, the centralized SBR-based system emerged as the preferred solution, offering a balanced approach that meets regulatory requirements, ensures operational efficiency, supports environmental sustainability, and addresses long-term community needs.
