Since 2005 the MIT MEng program has been studying Lake Yojoa and the various stakeholders who contribute to the anthropogenic environmental impact on the lake. Lake Yojoa is the largest freshwater lake in Honduras and a major center for industry and tourism. It is situated 125 kilometers northwest of the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, and 75 kilometers south of the industrial capital of Honduras, San Pedro Sula.
During the 2007-2008 school year, students worked directly with the bordering Municipality of Las Vegas, a major polluter of Lake Yojoa, to improve their wastewater treatment. The wastewater treatment infrastructure in Las Vegas consists of two Imhoff tanks in parallel. An Imhoff tank is constructed with two stories. The upper chamber is a sedimentation basin and the lower chamber is a sludge digester. Imhoff tanks represent approximately 40% of wastewater treatment infrastructure in Honduras. The structure in Las Vegas was originally designed to provide primary wastewater treatment to 4,000 residents. However, it is currently grossly overloaded. MIT worked with the municipal engineers to evaluate the efficacy of chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) as a means to obtain national effluent regulations. Additionally, the team of students evaluated the applicability of various other forms of wastewater treatment for service area expansions and made many recommendations for how to properly maintain the Imhoff tanks. Further, an investigation into the maintenance of Imhoff tanks in 4 other cities was conducted.