The first step of treating the brewery wastewater is neutralizing the Ph to make a cozy environment for the worms. “The concept has been around since the ‘70s or ‘80s but it’s a niche water treatment approach right now,” Geraldine Case said. The ultimate objective for OSU’s Seafood Lab and Perca, who are working together to get the system off the ground in Astoria, is the creation of a vermifiltration system that would clean both seafood wastewater and brewery water. Where wastewater treatment standsVermifiltration is being considered as a potentially important step in wastewater processing because the common current method of treatment uses probable carcinogens, and other solutions can be expensive or ineffective. The wood shavings utilized in the vermifiltration system are turned into compost for gardeners and farmers, which the OSU research team referred to as “brown gold.”