The City of Blue Grass has commissioned a modernized lagoon system that is now shaping regulatory policy across Iowa. Working with Iowa American Water, CMT, and Nexom (an Axius Water company), the community implemented a redesigned submerged attached growth reactor (SAGR) system that cuts footprint and construction costs by more than 50% while achieving reliable cold‑weather ammonia removal.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has since approved the revised SAGR sizing criteria used at Blue Grass for statewide application, paving the way for more than 700 lagoon-based facilities in Iowa and thousands across the U.S. to pursue cost‑effective compliance upgrades.
Read the full story published as a featured piece in the January 2026 issue of Water Environment & Technology (WE&T) magazine: A BIG BOON FOR SMALL LAGOONS – How one Iowa lagoon upgrade became a statewide model for cost-effective ammonia removal.
Axius Water is excited to be joining CRH
Axius Water is excited to announce that we are joining CRH – one of the largest providers of materials for critical infrastructure projects in the world. Our values align, our missions complement each other, and our commitment to stopping nutrient pollution is unchanged.
New in ES&E: Wabaseemoong retrofits RBCs into MBBR
Read the full story published as a featured piece in the February 2026 issue of Environmental Science & Engineering (ES&E) magazine: Retrofitting the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations’ WWTP from a RBC to a MBBR.