Small Decentralized Wastewater Management Systems

Decentralized Wastewater Management presents a comprehensive approach to the design of both conventional and innovative systems for the treatment and disposal of wastewater or the reuse of treaded effluent. Smaller treatment plants, which are the concern of most new engineers, are the primary focus of this important book.

This text presents a design of alternative collection systems, both conventional and experimental, for the treatment and disposal of the treated effluent. The book focuses particularly on smaller treatment plans and individual decentralized systems.

Water reuse management is one of the challenges all water scarce countries have to deal with in the coming decades. The present book highlights non-conventional solutions within the field of wastewater treatment and reuse predominantly for professionals and decision makers. It focuses on technologies which are reliable, sustainable, low cost and suitable for rural and sub urban areas. In addition, particularly innovative on-site concepts are presented.

This is a practical handbook providing a step-by-step approach to the techniques used for characterizing wastewater sources and investigating sites where collection, treatment and reuse/disposal technologies will be installed. It is intended to help enable local implementation of on-site and decentralized wastewater management system (DWMS)for wide scale use in development settings. How to Design Wastewater Systems for Local Conditions in Developing Countries helps local service providers and regulatory officials make informed decisions through the use of tools, checklists and case studies. It includes a link to a web based community of on-site and decentralized wastewater professionals, which contains related tools and case studies. This handbook serves as a reference for training classes, certification programs, and higher education programs in civil and sanitary engineering. There is an increasing interest on the part of local government officials and private sector service providers to implement wastewater treatment systems to solve sanitation problems. The model presented in this handbook promotes activities that first generate data related to source and site conditions that represent critical inputs, and then applies this information to the technology selection process. Matching the most appropriate technologies to the specific needs of the wastewater project is the key that leads to long term sustainability. How to Design Wastewater Systems for Local Conditions in Developing Countries is an invaluable resource for public sector decision makers and private sector service providers in developing countries. It is also a useful text for students at engineering colleges in developing countries interested in taking a class that teaches the methods of decentralized wastewater management system (DWMS) development.

The World Health Organization estimates that globally one billion people are without access to safe water and two billion people without adequate sanitation. The health consequence of such a situation is very serious and demands urgent appropriate action. The centralised system, which is still promoted all over the world, will not help in providing water and sanitation for all as it depends on huge financial and technological resources that are often not available. The International Conference on Decentralised Water and Wastewater Systems held in Fremantle, Western Australia in July 2006 (organised by the Environmental Technology Centre at Murdoch University) promoted decentralised systems as a means of solving this problem. All the papers submitted at the conference underwent a review process. This book brings together a selection of papers presented at the conference. The papers selected for inclusion in WEMS 13: Decentralised Water and Wastewater Systems promote the concept of decentralised systems, focusing on the design, operation, maintenance and management of small water and wastewater treatment plants and the uptake of decentralized systems. This book will be a valuable resource to industry practitioners, consultants and academics.

In December 2002, a group of specialists on water resources from the United States and Iran met in Tunis, Tunisia, for an interacademy workshop on water resources management, conservation, and recycling. This was the fourth interacademy workshop on a variety of topics held in 2002, the first year of such workshops. Tunis was selected as the location for the workshop because the Tunisian experience in addressing water conservation issues was of interest to the participants from both the United States and Iran. This report includes the agenda for the workshop, all of the papers that were presented, and the list of site visits.