Earlier in 2026 the YOWA Board of Directors agreed to establish a new onsite wastewater scholarship for a current or recent college student. The goal of this scholarship is to promote onsite wastewater research in New England and to have the findings presented both on a national and a local stage. The scholarship covers the travel cost for a person who has been selected to present their findings at the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA) annual Mega-Conference. In addition, the winner will present their work at a workshop being held somewhere in New England.
The winner of the 2026 YOWA Scholarship is Nelson da Luz at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. Nelson’s paper is entitled “Mapping onsite systems across the United States: Lessons learned and advancements in machine learning based methods”. The work focuses on developing a national inventory of onsite wastewater infrastructure.
YOWA is proud that this in-depth academic work is occurring here in New England and is delighted to help share Nelson’s work at the NOWRA Mega-Conference in Colorado in October 2026.
