never out of compliance. South Burlington, Vermont The Vermont Advanced Ecologically Engineered System (AEES) was one of four AEES demonstration projects created with funding from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The site in Chittenden County, near South Burlington, Vermont, was owned by the Massachusetts Institute for Excellence in Marine and Polymer Sciences, who received the grant. The project involved Living Technologies, Inc. as a subcontractor, and Ocean Arks International, with John Todd as principal investigator. Project design began in 1994. The main construction was complete by December 1995, when the introduction of biological species began. A steady state of operation was established by May 1996 and continued to the end of 1999. The plant was designed to treat 80,000 gallons from the city's daily wastewater output of 200,000 gallons. The Vermont AEES included wetlands for the extended aeration and treatment of activated sludge, with an active microbial community as well as plants, invertebrates, and fish. One of the goals of the project was to examine the approach's usefulness in a cold climate. A greenhouse protected the plants. The installation contained two parallel trains of treatment tanks, for experimental comparisons of treatments. During the course of the project, the operators met all but one of the original design goals, and were able to improve on the original design as a result of experimenting with the tank configurations. The area was used as both an experimental and an educational center, and was appreciated for its "uniquely beautiful aesthetic experience". Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies One of Todd's Living Machines was a "vital thread" in the design of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College by David W. Orr in the 1990s. While the Living Machines's primary function was to treat wastewater, it was also intended to be a model of sustainability and ecological design for the teaching of Oberlin students. Oberlin students helped to design, install, and maintain the system. Due to the complexity of the systems involved and issues in communication, a number of design oversights occurred during planning and construction. Limitations in available space and placement of features obstructed wetland flow, a brick wall with no functional purpose shaded some of the tanks, and some of the plants were in areas that had to be traversed by maintainers. Such problems decreased the system's effectiveness, complicated its maintenance, and had to be addressed. Researchers