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Process selection for sanitation systems and wastewater treatment in refugee camps during disaster‐relief situations
Author(s) -
Fenner R. A.,
Guthrie P. M.,
Piano E.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2007.00071.x
Subject(s) - sanitation , software deployment , waste management , sewage treatment , wastewater , trickling filter , natural disaster , process (computing) , environmental planning , unit (ring theory) , engineering , environmental engineering , business , environmental science , computer science , geography , mathematics education , software engineering , mathematics , meteorology , operating system
Disasters and emergency situations can disrupt the provision of clean water and hygienic sanitation, which are crucial for maintaining public health. Excreta disposal in emergencies has often been a low priority and this has led to the provision of unsuitable on‐site sanitation systems in urban areas. A decision algorithm for the selection of adequate excreta‐disposal solutions suitable for different disaster‐relief scenarios is presented. The special requirements of a wastewater treatment system for deployment during an emergency are discussed and a semi‐centralised system is recommended to serve 5000 refugees under a range of assumed loading conditions. Twenty‐three aerobic, anaerobic and natural systems are considered for secondary treatment and a process‐selection matrix is presented based around 16 evaluation criteria. A system layout is developed based around several sanitation facilities including sedimentation tanks connected to a centralised roughing trickling filter and an activated sludge unit, which provides optimal performance against the evaluation criteria. The system provides the required treatment performance in an easy‐to‐deploy, low‐cost compact installation.