WATER INNOVATION & REUSE LAB
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION, & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
​SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY

Pollutant source tracking

Research on stormwater pollution in the San Diego River

Early warning of Tijuana River cross-border pollution
using in-situ fluorescence sensors

 Real-time monitoring of Alvarado Creek water quality

Pollutant fate and transport

Fate of pollutants in the Tijuana River

Microplastics fragmentation in ​urban river watersheds

Persistence of chemicals leached from
tire wear particles and cigarette filters

Water reuse and treatment

ESeptic: reinventing the septic tank

Water Reuse of Tijuana River Water

​Mitigation of plastic-derived chemicals in ​stormwater
Nov 2025
- Congratulations Kiara Gambuzza for your poster award at the College of Engineering Graduate Research Symposium! Kiara presents on the fate of tire wear particle-derived compounds.
- Mladenov presents on tire wear particle pollution in waterways and Poletti presents on cigarette filter leachate pollution at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Conference in Portland.
Oct 2025
- Professors Mladenov and Dykstra receive the SDSU Pilot Innovation Fund Award for their patent-pending technology, ESeptic.
- WIRLab participates in the first One Water Symposium: Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Watersheds, featuring Kumeyaay watershed expert and historian Mike Connolly
- Mladenov recognized with an International Collaborator award at Ecoparque's 32rd Anniversary event at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte
Sep 2025
- Congratulations to Alex Grant for being selected for the 2025 CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) Graduate Student Engagement Award for her engagement with communities on Tijuana River pollution!
- Mladenov dio una sesión plenaria invitada en el 1er. Congreso Internacional de Agua Limpia y Saneamiento del TecNM Instituto Tecnológico de Tijuana. 
Aug 2025
- Welcome new WIRLab members: Diana, Angel, and Jaume. And welcome back Sofie!
May 2025
- ENVE 445 Water and Wastewater Treatment student teams design Tijuana River Water Reuse Facility to provide water for landscape irrigation to promote urban greening and slope stabilization in Tijuana.
Apr 2025
- Lily Astete Vasquez, WIRLab PhD student, successfully defends her PhD dissertation. Congratulations Lily!
- WIRLab undergrad researcher Shiloh Bolden is awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Shiloh!
- Kiara Gambuzza just awarded the 2025-2026 Master’s Research Scholarship. Congratulations Kiara!
- Mladenov gives keynote on Water Reuse and Tijuana River Pollution at the SDSU Sustainability Summit.
Oct 2024
- SDSU NewsCenter highlights Mladenov and Biggs sensor platform research in the Tijuana River Estuary.
- MS student Sarah Poletti receives David G. Fleet Scholarship!
- SDSU water-themed faculty host Water Day on Oct 18. Mladenov gives research updates. Grant, and Poletti present in the poster session.
- Bolden and Astete Vasquez present at the National Onsite Water Reuse Mega-Conference in Spokane. Astete Vasquez wins graduate student poster award.
Aug 2024
- MS student Alex Grant in the news (Fox5Newscast) for her field research on Tijuana River and Estuary pollution.
- CBS8 reports on our WIRLab-BiggsLab sensor platform research to track cross-border pollution in the Tijuana River.
NEWS ARCHIVES...
Kumeyaay Land Acknowledgement
For millennia, the Kumeyaay people have been a part of this land. This land has nourished, healed, protected and embraced them for many generations in a relationship of balance and harmony. As members of the San Diego State University community, we acknowledge this legacy. We promote this balance and harmony. We find inspiration from this land, the land of the Kumeyaay.
WIRLab trains and mentors undergraduate and graduate students from all groups to take on environmental challenges in water scarce environments by conducting research on sustainable water and sanitation technologies and biogeochemical processes in natural and engineered systems. Current projects investigate the transformation and persistence of emerging chemicals in anaerobic and aerobic decentralized water reuse systems, sources of anthropogenic contaminants in urban rivers,  water quality response to stream restoration, the fate of microplastics in the environment, and rapid fluorescence-based tracking of organic contaminants in surface water and groundwater.
At WIRLab, we support all students, regardless of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin, who are interested in research. 
WIRLab is led by Dr. Natalie Mladenov, PhD., P.E. 
and supported by an endowment from William E. Leonhard Jr.
Please contact Dr. Mladenov (at nmladenov@ sdsu.edu) or stop by E404 for a tour.
Why is research awesome? Check out Lauren and Fed's 
outreach video!