Photo Essay: Treating Wastewater as a Resource
In an increasingly water-stressed world, productive and sustainable use of a variety of freshwater sources has become more important than ever. The theme of World Water Day 2017 — wastewater—provided an ideal moment to pause and reflect on how this often maligned and misunderstood water source can be treated safely to improve public health and enhance quality of life. Thanks to technological advances in wastewater treatment and disposal, as well as improved sanitation management practices, many communities are even recognizing that water, once used, can still be put to productive use — making wastewater a largely untapped renewable freshwater source for increasing food production and facilitating economic development in water-stressed areas. USAID invites you to travel around the world in the photo essay below to see how the Agency’s wastewater programming is helping improve sanitation access, increase water security, drive job creation, and create healthier, more livable communities for millions of people.
Philippines — Creating a city’s wastewater treatment infrastructure in the aftermath of disaster
In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan — one of the most powerful storms on record — left a trail of destruction across central Philippines. In Tacloban City, the capital of hard-hit Leyte Province, essential city water services came to a standstill and made clear that other critical services, like wastewater treatment and sanitation, were desperately needed. To respond to the ongoing sanitation needs of the survivors, USAID, through its Water Security for Resilient Economic Growth and Stability (Be Secure) project and in collaboration with UNICEF, provided technical assistance to upgrade a temporary emergency facility to a permanent Septage Treatment Plant for Tacloban City. USAID worked with the City Environment and Natural Resources Office to draw up a wastewater management plan. Completed in early 2016, the facility is designed as typhoon-resilient, able to withstand strong winds of up to 195 miles (315 kilometers) per hour — similar to the wind strength of Typhoon Haiyan. Once fully operational in 2017, the structure will be the first citywide wastewater treatment facility in the Philippines to use lime stabilization, a process that decreases levels of pathogenic bacteria in fecal sludge while improving wastewater odor. The plant will treat up to 25 cubic meters of wastewater per day, benefitting approximately 250,000 residents. USAID also constructed a visitor center to promote understanding and appreciation among the general public on how treating septage contributes to good health and a clean environment, and what processes are involved. The new plant is “finally addressing the issue of contamination of our coastal waters and boosting the environmental sustainability of the post-Haiyan recovery of the city,” says Tacloban City Health City Health Officer Dr. Jaime Opinion.
To read more about Be Secure in Global Waters magazine, click here.
Indonesia — Creating healthier, more breathable neighborhoods with safely managed sanitation services
In Indonesia’s increasingly crowded cities, population growth is outpacing the capacity of municipal sanitation infrastructure and services. As a result, improper wastewater disposal, inadequate sanitation facilities, and malodor have eroded quality of life in urban centers across this sprawling island nation. To address these problems, the Indonesia Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (IUWASH) project promoted regular pumping of septic tanks to remove fecal sludge, while launching public education campaigns to encourage sanitation-related behavior change. Residents have greeted the initiative with enthusiasm, particularly because of the considerable cost savings. In Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, local resident Pujianto (Indonesians often go by one name) said he and his neighbors “immediately switched our septic tanks in our homes to national standard ones and also registered for the desludging service” after receiving information about proper septic tank maintenance. “I used to spend Rp 300,000 (US $22) for a private desludging service, now I just need to pay Rp 12,500 per month (US $1) and don’t have to worry that my septic tank at home will overflow.” Having concluded operations in 2016 after delivering improved sanitation facilities to more than 300,000 Indonesians, IUWASH is being continued today through the IUWASH Environmental Health for All (IUWASH PLUS) project, which aims to extend water supply and sanitation coverage to several hundred thousand of the poorest and most vulnerable households in Indonesia’s cities in the coming years. To see IUWASH wastewater programming in action, click on the video below.
To read more about IUWASH in Global Waters magazine, click here.
Jordan — Recycling wastewater to ease chronic water stress
One of the most water-scarce countries in the world, Jordan faces constant pressure to maximize the productivity of each drop of its limited freshwater supply. To ease its water deficit, the country has turned to large-scale wastewater recycling to augment water supply and alleviate the daily water stresses felt in many Jordanian households. A recent expansion of Jordan’s state-of-the-art As-Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant, the largest in the nation, was completed with support from USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, raising the facility’s average daily treatment capacity to 365,000 cubic meters and allowing the plant to handle more than 70 percent of Jordan’s wastewater. Serving roughly 2.2 million people living in the Amman and Az-Zarqa metropolitan areas, the plant has allowed the country to “reallocate more fresh water from irrigated agriculture towards the most urgent needs of the domestic water sector,” says Dr. Hazim El-Nasser, Jordan’s Minister of Water and Irrigation. “We were able to connect more households to the public sewage networks, thereby enhancing environmental and health standards.” In addition to bolstering local water security by providing municipalities with highly treated recycled wastewater, the plant is also contributing to Jordan’s food production, supplying 10 percent of the country’s total agricultural water needs. To see USAID/Jordan water-sector programming in action, click on the video below.
To read more about the As-Samra Wastewater Treatment Plant in Global Waters magazine, click here.
Ghana — Finding natural solutions for converting human waste into fertilizer
Despite an impressive national water supply coverage rate of more than 85 percent, Ghana has struggled to improve sanitation coverage in rural and urban areas alike. To address this issue, the USAID WASH for Health project is experimenting with a natural solution — worms — to improve wastewater treatment and reuse. In lieu of a septic tank, a latrine system known as Biofil allows fecal matter to be treated on-site by first separating liquids and solids. Liquid wastewater is filtered through permeable concrete and sand and returned to the local environment, where it can be put to productive use watering gardens. Meanwhile, solid waste is deposited into a “digester” chamber adjacent to the latrine building, where worms accelerate the decomposition process by converting feces into compost, which can subsequently be used as fertilizer. One of the most appealing aspects of Biofil as a sustainable wastewater treatment solution is its durability. “When that latrine is constructed,” says Emmanuel Odotei, WASH Project Management Specialist for USAID/Ghana, “it can go for 10 or 15 years without evacuation.” USAID/Ghana has experimented with innovative reuse of wastewater in urban areas as well. Under the recently concluded Water Access Sanitation and Hygiene for the Urban Poor project, USAID, in collaboration with Biofil Company and The Coca-Cola Company, successfully converted waste into biofuels to power cookstoves in an Accra school.
To read more about WASH for Health in Global Waters magazine, click here.
India — A campaign to improve urban sanitation and wastewater disposal takes root nationwide
In 2014, the Government of India launched the Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission, an ambitious campaign to improve public health and urban quality of life by improving sanitation and eliminating open defecation. With the support of USAID, The Coca-Cola Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and others, Swachh Bharat has already enjoyed significant successes in cities like Visakhapatnam, home to two million people in Andhra Pradesh state. Equipped with best practices and lessons learned from the campaign’s initial implementation, Swachh Bharat is now scaling up operations dramatically in a bid to reach more than 4,000 cities across India by October 2019. That month holds special symbolic significance for the nation, marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, India’s revered independence leader who once remarked “Sanitation is more important than independence.” As Swachh Bharat takes root in more neighborhoods in the coming years, USAID/India’s collaboration with India’s Ministry of Urban Development will train 158,000 civic managers to improve India’s entire sanitation service chain. According to India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi.”
To read more about Swachh Bharat in Global Waters magazine, click here.
By Russell Sticklor
To subscribe to Global Waters magazine, click here, and follow us on Twitter @USAIDWater. This photo essay appears in Global Waters, Vol. 8, Issue 2; for past issues of the magazine, visit Global Waters’ homepage on the USAID website. For more information about USAID water and sanitation programming, click here. For more information about World Water Day 2017, click here.
