Installing in Paradise

Dan Taylor’s Acme Environmental Solutions is raising water-quality standards by building a vast array of modern and effective water and decentralized wastewater systems on the Caribbean island of Roatan.

Jun 04, 2014 | by David Steinkraus |

Honduras Sequencing Batch Reactor Advanced Treatment Unit Delta Environmental Products Drip System Netafim USA Infiltrator Water Technologies Septic Tank Vacuum Truck Satellite Industries Vacuum Pump Masport, Inc. Westmoor Ltd. Laser Level Spectra Precision/Trimble Isuzu Commercial Truck of America

Installing in Paradise — Workers prepare trenches for an Infiltrator Systems drip system on Maya Key, a small island next to Roatan. The island is a tourist attraction with seals and other animals and is patronized by cruise ship passengers. (Photos by David Steinkraus)

Installing in Paradise — When Dan Taylor and his wife moved to Roatan, Honduras, they started a residential development that would include their own home. It remains unbuilt because his business, Acme Environmental Solutions, took off, but other people in the community can use this swimming pool. Beneath the pool deck are cisterns to catch rain runoff for reuse through reverse osmosis treatment. Beyond is the Caribbean Sea.

Installing in Paradise — Although Acme Environmental Solutions did not build the desalination plant for Coxen Hole (it was a gift to Honduras from the government of Spain), it does run the plant. Desalination is accomplished by a series of small-pore membranes contained in the long white tubes visible at left. Here, technician Junior Torres gives trainee Deyvin Garcia some instruction on the plant’s operation.

Installing in Paradise — When Carnival cruise ships enter port at Mahogany Bay on Roatan, wastewater from the shops and other facilities catering to tourists is sent through this Cromaglass sequencing batch reactor. It is fully aerobic but has no denitrifying cycle. After going in sequence through these two aerobic tanks, water is sent to a clarifier and then to 2,500 feet of perforated pipe to irrigate plantings beside the cruise ship dock.

Installing in Paradise — Marcia Bodden, left, and Lea Bongiorno are among the people who help keep the office running at Acme Environmental Solutions.

Installing in Paradise — Under the supervision of Eugenio Torres, in the yellow hardhat, workers from Acme Environmental Solutions install a wastewater system at a private home on the north coast of Roatan, Honduras. In the ground is a DMF-05 ATU system from Durman. Because there are few standards, some of the homes in the development have minimal treatment while those served by Acme have equipment up to the standards of the developed world.

Installing in Paradise — The small community of Santa Maria is in the process of having a new wastewater system built by Acme Environmental Solutions. For years the community’s treatment solution was concrete septic tanks included in houses. Overflows discharged wastewater directly onto the surface of the ground.

Maya Key

Dan Taylor Waterfall

Desalination Plant

Mahogany Bay Wastewater

Office Staff

Pristine Bay

Santa Maria Scene

About a dozen years ago Dan Taylor and his wife Sam began thinking of retirement. As a civil engineer he had spent decades moving from place to place and project to project, often in Northeastern Africa and the Persian Gulf. And after years of living near the equator, this Montana native had little desire to return to a land of snow and ice.The Taylors settled on the tropical island of Roatan, part of the Bay Islands chain in the western Caribbean, and part of Honduras, with its mainland 40 miles away. Retirement didn’t quite work out to be retirement. They

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