WATER INNOVATION & REUSE LAB
Department of Civil, Construction, & Environmental Engineering
​San Diego State University

Pollutant source tracking

 Real-time monitoring
​of Alvarado Creek water quality

Research on stormwater pollution in the 
San Diego River

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

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
Aug 2026
- Welcome new and returning WIRLab students!
July 2026
- New paper led by Dr. Shipley (postdoc WIRLab) highlights the impacts of extreme storm events and infrastructure failures on chemical and microbial pollution of the San Diego River
- Sarah Poletti (MS CIVE) publishes paper on leaching of chemical pollutants from cigarette filters in ES&T Water
- Shipley, Gambuzza, Mladenov, and summer undegraduate research assistant, Nicolette Caci, complete NSF I-Corps regional hub/WaterTech Cohort training.
- Rule is awarded the 2026 National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association Scholarship. Congratulations Amber!
June 2026
- Our paper just published on the degradation of nitrogen-containing pharmaceuticals by anammox bacteria, with Shiloh Bolden (BS ENVE), WIRLab alum as lead author
- Our paper accepted on diurnal variability in water quality in Alvarado Creek tracked by real-time sensors with big data post-processing and correction. Jesse Hurtado is lead author.
- Mladenov, Dykstra (CCEE), and Biggs (GEOG) give first tour of the SDSU One Water Lab to San Diego Water Quality Control Board staff
May 2026
- WIRLab collaborates with San Diego Coastkeeper on Phase 2 of their Binational Resilience Initiative
- Shipley presents estuarine water quality research at Scripps Institute of Oceanography's Border Sewage Research Symposium
- WIRLab and Biggs Lab collaborate with Dr. Evan Thomas (CU Boulder) on water quality sensor research
- Mladenov, Dykstra (CCEE), and Hoh (Public Health) awarded Sefton Foundation funding to pursue new research at the SDSU One Water Lab
Apr 2026
- Amber Rule is awarded the SDSU 2026-2027 Master’s Research Scholarship (MRS). Congratulations Amber!
Mar 2026
- Sofie Aranguren wins First Place !! at the AEHS West Conference for her poster, "Effects of Aeration on Nitrogen and Carbon Removal in an Electrified Anaerobic Baffled Reactor"
- Rule and Aranguren successfully complete the NSF I-Corps program along with technical leads, Professors Mladenov and Dykstra
- Mladenov and Astete Vasquez host Dr. Juliana Calabria from Brazil. We are fortunate to have her at SDSU this year!
Feb 2026
- Kiara Gambuzza receives the Dean's Award for her poster presentation at the SDSU Student Symposium (S3)
- Mladenov receives Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities Graduate Mentor Award at S3
Jan 2026
- Mladenov, Knight, and colleagues publish new study on macroplastic weathering and fragmentation in the riparian zone of an urban stream
​- WIRLab welcomes MS student Amber Rule!
Dec 2025
- Mladenov and Blue Gold colleagues attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the One Water Lab
- Lemus, Cabrera, and Rojas graduate with BS in Environmental Engineering!
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. 
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!