Sara Heger Christopherson

Onsite Sewage Treatment Program and State Extension Specialist

Phone: 612-625-7243

E-mail: heger001@umn.edu

Since 1998, as an engineer in the Onsite Sewage Treatment Program (OSTP) at the University of Minnesota, Sara Heger Christopherson has been providing education and technical assistance to homeowners, small communities, onsite professionals and local units of government on issues regarding onsite wastewater treatment. Due to changing regulations in Minnesota, Christopherson is serving as principal investigator and one of the lead authors on an updated training manual for onsite practitioners. She is also a lead author on the national project writing team for the Consortium of Institutes for Decentralized Wastewater Treatment (CIDWT) Installer Curriculum Project and presents at many local and national training events.

Christopherson recently completed a research project demonstrating and testing options to treat wastewater from dairy milk houses. Current research she is involved with includes a raw wastewater study and evaluating soil phosphorus removal mechanisms.

Christopherson serves on the board of the Minnesota Onsite Wastewater Association (MOWA) and as the education chairperson for the National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association (NOWRA). She is also the chair of the Minnesota State Advisory Committee on Decentralized Systems and serves on the MPCA Technical Assistance Panel.

She has a MS in Water Resource Science (WRS) and a BS in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering and is working on completing a Ph.D. in WRS relating to the phosphorus work.