Using Mycofiltration Treatment for Stormwater Management

Federal and State environmental regulations require transportation construction and retrofit projects to manage stormwater and improve water quality. MassDOT has legal, financial, and ecological obligations to mitigate pollution from stormwater runoff entering water bodies. Existing green and gray infrastructure in place across the Commonwealth is not always able to address non-point-source stormwater pollution. Mycofiltration is a promising stormwater management technology that utilizes mycelium, or fungal webs, as biological filters to mitigate water contaminants passing through woodchips, straw, or soil. This low-cost and low-tech solution could be added to MassDOT’s typical Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) to mitigate stormwater containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and biological pollutants (e.g., E. coli). This project analyzed existing literature and case studies on mycofiltration, documented interviews with subject matter experts, and identified MassDOT SCMs most suited for mycofiltration. Conceptual details for mycofiltration SCMs are provided, as are lists of potential local fungal inoculant vendors and academic research partners for future studies. The research indicates that there is currently not enough scientific peer-reviewed literature to support deploying mycofiltration as an addition to MassDOT stormwater SCMs. However, with further testing and verification, there may be benefits of including fungi as SCMs in the future.